In a forthright address, Payne called out China for its systematic campaign of disinformation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She rightly, if brutally, observed that at a time of pandemic, disinformation will cost lives.
She cited the European Commission report that charged China and Russia with massive campaigns of disinformation concerning the pandemic. This was an immensely significant report. The Europeans are not what you’d call habitually courageous in public dealings with Beijing, and for them to call out the Chinese Communist Party government in this way indicates that the information is undeniable and the practices egregious.
Similarly, Twitter terminated 32,000 fake accounts from China, Russia and Turkey. This is as clear a case as we could imagine of authoritarian regimes attempting to use the freedoms of democracy — freedoms that notably do not exist in authoritarian societies — to damage democracy.
Payne’s defence of democracy was passionate. She was also rightly blunt in calling out as disinformation Beijing’s claim Chinese people face severe racism in Australia and should not come here.
This is just as blunt as it gets. Covertly, as identified by the European Commission and Twitter, and overtly, as in the ridiculous claims about racism, Beijing is systematically telling lies. This has to be added to the statement by former PM Malcolm Turnbull in his memoirs that Beijing engages in vastly more espionage against Australia than any other power has ever done. Add all that up, and it’s a very disturbing reality, one that Australian governments have to respond to and manage.
Payne is unapologetic about the Morrison government’s decision to publicly seek a full independent inquiry into how COVID-19 began and how it was managed in the early days. She rightly rejects the idea Australia should have abandoned this principled, necessary and reasonable request because it might upset the Chinese.
To those who say such an inquiry would have happened anyway, she has this withering reply: “Nothing just happens anyway.”
Payne does not do as much media as the average foreign minister but the government certainly believes she is more than capable of making big strategic statements.
It will be fascinating to see what reaction this speech gets in Beijing.
The other part of Payne’s formulation is that Canberra needs to step up its involvement in a range of multilateral bodies, to advance our interests and values, and to make sure they are not dominated by Beijing. This is an implicit, and justified, criticism of the Trump administration for walking away from too many of these bodies.
Nations such as Australia, Japan and India can make up some of the US deficit but cannot replace the influence of an engaged Washington. Payne also stressed the role of values in foreign affairs and Canberra’s increased efforts to deepen co-operation with like-minded nations, especially India.
As ministerial speeches go, this was a blockbuster, the equivalent of Avengers Assemble. Watch out for the action-packed sequel.
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Foreign Minister Marise Payne has delivered the boldest and most important speech of her career. It contains a simple message to Beijing: Australia is not backing down.