Porcine offering to China is a sweet and sour story

It seems that whenever a pig sneezes in China, Australians catch vegetarianism, writes CHARLES WOOLEY.

IN a week that has seen Beijing exclude two Australian conservative politicians we should remember that China has a long and deep distrust of all Western powers, including us. It’s a historical resentment which predates the relatively recent advent of the communist state.

After the Opium Wars of the 19th century, the American and European powers forced China to become a mere colony of the West. The Treaty of Nanking (1842) — a shameful and racist document — granted all trade rights and protection to the western nations and none to the supine Chinese.

In context, all the political shouting and sabre rattling we hear from China today stems from the humiliation and disgrace of their subjugation by superior western firepower and technology.

Young Chinese who have no knowledge of the Tiananmen Square massacre in the spring of 1989 (officially it didn’t happen) can recite chapter and verse the details of the atrocity of the western invasion in the Opium Wars almost 200 years ago.

It is not unusual for totalitarian regimes everywhere to resort to historical grievances for legitimacy.

In just a few words; “Comrades, now it’s payback time.”

Liberal MPs James Paterson and Andrew Hastie were off on a study tour of China. They had packed their grundies, Gastro Relief and copies of Lonely Planet and the useful “Idiot’s Guide to Mandarin” when suddenly they learnt they weren’t going anywhere.

The gates to the Great Wall of China had been slammed in their faces.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie’s planned trip to China was blocked at the last minute. Picture: AAP

Andrew Hastie is chair of the powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He knows too much. It’s doubtful our security people would have been overly enthusiastic about the planned visit, and possibly relieved when it was off.

ASIO spooks are paid to be every bit as suspicious of China as China is of us. They caution our travelling officials not to “party too hard”.

High ranking Aussie tourist blokes are briefed: “If you are not the kind of guys whom pretty girls usually come up to in a bar and it happens in China, then be very careful.”

It is also customary for all Australian officials travelling to China to hand in their devices before leaving home, in exchange for temporary ones which will be debugged and discarded on return.

Underlining the mutual state of Sino-Australian paranoia, spooks warn: “Nowhere is safe. All phones will be monitored. The privacy of your hotel room doesn’t exist. Always speak and behave as if you are being video-taped, which you almost certainly will be.”

They should know. Remember a few years ago, our clumsy spooks were caught out bugging the phone of the Indonesian President’s wife. How embarrassing.

And how dumb to be caught! Now we can’t be holier than thou in China.

Learning the trip was off, Hastie concluded that the decision was “politically motivated”.

He didn’t need to be Henry Kissinger to work that out. In August this year he compared China’s global ambitions and militarism to “the rise of Nazi Germany”.

For some people, the jackboots and the goose-stepping during the CCP’s 70th birthday celebrations might have sent a shiver of remembrance down the spine. Hastie and Paterson have also called out those huge Chinese concentration or “re-education” camps.

So, it’s well and truly too late now “not to mention the war”.

The CCP likes to invoke history but only when history is on their side. So, the Chinese Embassy in Australia was quick to order those bad boys from the History 101 class to “repent and redress their mistakes”.

Meanwhile, this week’s leaking in the New York Times of Chinese state documents reveals the avuncular-looking leader, Xi Jinping, ordering a “show no mercy” policy in the mass detention of ethnic minorities and dissidents.

Mr Xi recently had himself declared president for life which, unfortunately, will no doubt invoke further unpleasant historical associations.

But let’s not make things worse.

The Chinese President called for the “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism” to use all the “organs of dictatorship”.

This bodes ill for Hong Kong, and even raises the question of why it hasn’t already happened there.

The Chinese Communist Party’s high level of tolerance for dissidence in the former British colony is highly uncharacteristic.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne poured yet more petrol on our inflamed Chinese relationship when she said: “These disturbing reports … reinforce Australia’s view. We have consistently called for China to cease the arbitrary detention of Uighurs and other groups.”

While Chinese officials are displeased with the Senator, it seems the lady is not for turning.

Nor did 60 Minutes ease the tension this week with a comprehensive report alleging the CCP is buying and bribing its way into the Pacific, and even into the mining riches of Bougainville.

The report which underlines the naïvete and venality of small Pacific Island politicians makes you wonder whether we shouldn’t look more closely at how an asleep state government and a hayseed and callow country council could facilitate the massive Chinese landgrab at Swansea on Tasmania’s East Coast?

But then perhaps not. There’s probably nothing to see here. Because, thank goodness, the politicians on our own small Pacific Island are neither naïve nor venal.

On the brighter side for meat-pie-and-chopsticks-diplomacy, Australia threw China a bone this week.

The Federal Government approved the sale of the Tasmanian baby formula outfit Bellamy’s Organic to Chinese interests.

Our very own Senator Jacqui Lambie soured the milk of human kindness just a touch when she described it as “a Communist Chinese takeover.”

Colourfully, she declared: “Every time they open a cheque book we roll over like a dog.”

Another bone we are throwing to China is a huge ham bone. Australians might have to forgo their traditional Christmas ham this year.

The death of 200 million pigs in China from African Swine Flu created a massive market shortfall which we are going to fill.

But it’s a sweet and sour pork story. Sweet because our exports are up 100 per cent. Sour because here at home the price has doubled.

It seems that whenever a pig sneezes in China, Australians catch vegetarianism.

Will the Chinese forgive us our trespasses now that we have so selflessly sacrificed our Christmas lunch?

Will the relationship be smoother?

Will CCP back off in Hong Kong?

Will they stop shouting at us, and can the troublesome Hastie and Paterson still have their Chinese banquet?

Pigs might fly. But only if they are frozen or chilled and on a plane to China.