How we deal with China not a right/left issue

A facility believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, in Artux in China’s Xinjiang region. Picture: AFP

When our country goes to the polls in a few months time, it must confront two of the greatest challenges Australia has ever faced: the climate crisis and the Chinese government’s assault on our democracy and sovereignty.

I am the first Tibetan-Australian to run for public office in Australia, and thereby one of the first candidates to bring lived experience of the profound threat posed by an authoritarian China.

Born in a Tibetan refugee camp in India, I moved to Australia 16 years ago as a stateless person, arriving with a small suitcase and $1000. I have built a wonderful life in my adopted home, and am ready to give back to the country that has given me so much. This includes helping ensure Australia holds true to its values, protects its sovereignty and puts people before profit.

Over 10 years working as a human rights campaigner and walking the halls of parliament, I saw how leaders of all stripes turned a blind eye to China’s human rights abuses in Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). As Australia and China got richer together, human rights of Tibetans, Uighurs, Southern Mongolians and Hong Kongers got worse.

Meanwhile, I felt China’s long shadow hovering over my own community in Australia. Former political prisoners and torture survivors told me they felt unsafe, constantly under the Chinese government’s surveillance and fearing for the safety of their families in Tibet should they dare speak up.

This is not only a threat to my own community but a threat to Australian society as a whole, and to the values and freedoms we cherish. Academics at our top universities confess they were biting their tongue on Tibet for fear of jeopardising their careers. At the same time, pro-Beijing voices were amplified in mainstream media to the exclusion of voices like mine.

In short, some of our most important institutions and the cornerstones of a well-functioning democracy were undermined and corrupted.

When it came to Australia’s economic health, I saw that choosing to tie our economy so closely to China’s was a dangerous gamble. With so many eggs in the one basket, any major downturn in the Chinese economy or period of political instability in China – both likely at some point in the future – would have major repercussions for Australian industries, workers and families. Most frustratingly, I saw the China threat fall victim to partisan politics and become hamstrung by political point scoring. Like the climate crisis, how we deal with the Chinese government’s behaviour should not be a right or a left issue. It is about doing the right thing and the smart thing.

Australia has everything it needs to confront both the China threat and the existential challenge of climate change. What’s more, the solutions go hand in hand, and will leave Australia a more prosperous, equal and resilient society. It must start with letting go of our fears, overcoming vested interests and understanding our strengths as a nation.

We can reduce our economic dependence on China by focusing on local manufacturing, diversifying our export mix and deepening partnerships with the other growing economies in our region. This will ensure our future security and prosperity, and mean we are able to hold our ground in the face of Chinese government aggression.

Australia is blessed with the resources and skills needed to help build the clean economies of the future. We need not depend on trade with China when the whole world is racing to move beyond fossil fuels and is hungry for clean energy, green steel, renewable hydrogen and other 21st century goods and services.

It is not too late for Australia to chart a bold new course. One that is no longer beholden to an authoritarian regime but in which Australia has rediscovered its strengths and ingenuity.

Kyinzom Dhongdue is the Democratic Alliance’s Senate candidate for NSW in the 2022 federal election