Taciturn China shuns dialogue

Beijing’s absurd bluster falsely alleging Australian racism against Chinese students and tourists has been swiftly turned against the Chinese Communist Party. The gratuitous “advice” from a Chinese foreign ministry official, as reported on Saturday, was for Australia to “do some soul-searching”. But 300 human rights groups from just about every sector in Africa, and about 1800 activists, have issued a searing critique denouncing the “xenophobic, racist and inhuman treatment of Africans in China”, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis. Such detailed, intense condemnation leaves Beijing’s attacks on so-called Australian racism with little credibility. “They (the Chinese) treat us like dogs,” Joe, from the West African nation of Liberia, who lives and works in Guangzhou, home to an African diaspora of 14,000, told China correspondent Will Glasgow. Edgard Shingiro, from Burundi, spoke of Africans being “ostracised for months” over the virus that emerged from Wuhan. The letter demanding action over Chinese racism, compiled for the African Union, spoke of “horrendous dehumanisation of Africans in China”.

Scott Morrison, who rightly dismissed claims of racism against Chinese people in Australia as “rubbish”, pointed out on Friday that Australia has “done nothing to injure” the nation’s partnership with China. The reality, as Foreign Minister Marise Payne says, is that the CCP appears hellbent on a campaign of disinformation, despite the long-term relationship being mutually beneficial. China is also refusing to negotiate at ministerial level, which is how mature nations resolve their differences.

In this environment, suspicions are rife that the dismissive, one-sentence statement in Chinese state media about the death sentence handed down to Australian actor-turned-entrepreneur Karm Gilespie, 55, seven years after he was arrested on drug trafficking charges, is linked to China’s attempts to exacerbate tensions with Australia, a vehement opponent of the death penalty. It’s not hard to see a precedent. Two Canadians were sentenced to death on drug trafficking charges last year in China, during a row with Canada over the arrest of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Canadian attempts to plead for clemency for Robert Schellenberg and Fan Wei have so far been unsuccessful. China has also detained two other Canadians, including a former diplomat, on spying charges. Their arrests are also believed to have been in retaliation for Meng’s arrest. More than 100 Australians remain under arrest in China, mostly on drug trafficking and fraud charges. Those waiting to learn their fate include writer Dr Yang Hengjun, who was detained in January 2019 and faces one count of espionage, which he emphatically denies. He has been denied access to his lawyers and family.

Regardless of Beijing’s provocations, Mr Morrison is right to emphasise that “what Australia will always do is act in our national interests, in accordance with our values’’. And when it comes to multiculturalism, freedom of religion, liberty and treating everybody equally, he was “happy to stack Australia’s record up all around the world”.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham’s frustration over China’s unwillingness to “come to the table” to discuss trade tensions over China’s blocking of Australian beef and barley is well founded. Senators Payne and Birmingham have also been unable to challenge China’s attempts to stop its students from studying in Australia because their ministerial counterparts refuse to take their calls. Time will tell how many students ignore their government’s advice given all that Australia has to offer in terms of academic quality and a safe, clean environment where the threat of COVID-19 has been minimised.

Communist diehards surrounding President Xi Jinping doubtless remain peeved over Australia’s initiative that saw the World Health Assembly vote unanimously in favour of an independent inquiry into the Wuhan virus. Faced with global isolation, China was left with no alternative but to throw in the towel and agree. The latest outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing’s main meat and vegetable market makes China’s trenchant opposition to the inquiry suggested by Mr Morrison look even more fatuous.