June 2020.
By now, many of you will be feeling what untold millions of ordinary people around the world must be feeling…a growing sense of anger at China.
We have seen the Chinese Government diplomats and their fellow travellers, angrily gesturing and shouting from various podiums around the globe about this vile disease, COVID-19.
At the time I am writing this, none of us knows just where this pestilence began and how it was allowed to consume our globe so quickly. We think we know because the media tells us that it started in a ‘ wet ‘ market in the Chinese City of Wuhan. But we don’t really know, and calls for a transparent enquiry have been met by the usual, predictable huffing and puffing, finger-pointing and bullying nonsense from the Chinese Communist Party.
I make it very clear that my comments refer to the Chinese Communist Party, which runs a dictatorship in China. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people are not our enemies and have no chance to change their tyranny by the ballot box, because Communism does not allow free legislative elections.
Diplomatic reports gleaned from various Commonwealth websites indicate that there is no hostility towards Australia from the general population of China. Most are unaware of what Australia is; others think it is an excellent place to live and some obviously will slavishly adhere to the party line – as all good Communists and their fellow travellers are wont to do!
The Chinese Government has become a substantial economic beast, driven by a man who seems determined to see his legacy surpass that of the old dictator himself, Mao Tse Dung. Xi Jinping has had himself appointed Chairman for Life, and I always wonder why is it so, that dictators of Communist and socialist regimes strive to achieve this goal?
Their lust for power is unquenchable: they project that power through economic muscles and substantial military forces.
At first glance, looking at China from an Australian viewpoint we see an economic giant that has no hesitation in using its’ power to punish us for daring to support an independent review into the origins of this vile disease.
Their global anger, thrashing out in Europe, threatening India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and th UK suggests some truth in the old saying “ Methinks thou dost protest too much “, indicating a curious level of guilt.
Within Australia, there is a level of political support for the Communist Government of China. There always has been, and it has its genesis in the socialist legacies of the old Australian Communist Party which have been absorbed by factions of the Australian Labor Party.
Australia seems almost powerless to combat this powerful presence on the global stage, but we have more going for us than is commonly accepted.
To begin with, Communist China cannot feed itself – it simply cannot do that. Hence the continuous purchase, by China, of prime agricultural land in Australia plus the staggering investment in water rights across the Australian mainland, again by Chinese owned companies. All this is in the name of food security for the communists.
Well, the communists can purchase the land, and their funds remain in Australia, as does the Earth and the water, we can, if we want to, nationalize all these entities and take them back! Sure they would threaten us, they already are, but bullies are known for their capacity to threaten and then fade away when faced with determined resistance.
Australia does not stand alone in this region; we have the capacity and the diplomatic skills to form a quadrilateral arrangement with countries such as India, Japan, Singapore and the USA if necessary. These nations have strong economies, as do we, and substantial military presence in the region, as do we.
Many other nations in South East Asia, Indonesia being of substantial significance, are uncomfortable with the aggressive presence of the Chinese dragon and would be amenable to forming an alliance to counterbalance the Chinese threat.
In real terms, we have heard of the banning of the meat exports from Australian meat processors, one just up the road from us in Kilcoy, Southern Queensland. Interesting reports in the agricultural media indicate that all the processed beef meant for China has already found new markets in other parts of the globe, a clear signal to the Chinese that we are not just “ patsies “ to be pushed around at their will. We also know that their mates, in Cedar Meats in Victoria, that Southern haven of communist sympathizers, are flogging prime Australian beef to them as fast as they can!
News from the Australian Barley Board indicates that all barley crops sown in anticipation of sales to China, and a record harvest is expected in the large grain states, are already sold into other global markets; so not much pain there. Of course, these punitive matters hurt us; we accept that. But we are not helpless, as the above lines indicate.
Perhaps the most significant hurt comes from within China itself, the Tsing Tsao Brewing Company, makers of delicious beer, use entirely Australian barley and have complained loudly about being deprived of a valuable quality product. The Chinese will now have to drink beer made from fluffy barley from other global sources.
Many middle-class Chinese people have come to enjoy, and to look forward to Australian wines and beef – how far are the Communist willing to push their threats? Are they willing to face down millions of their own people? I think not!
These are but some examples of how, when faced with this kind of bullying nonsense, Australia can be proud of its agricultural products.
I note that the supply of top quality Australian iron ore still flows unimpeded, in vast quantities, from Western Australia to China – no threats about disrupting the supply of this strategically critical raw material.
But, we could stop it – couldn’t we? We could value add it by making it into steel, which the Chinese Communist Government could then purchase if we let them!
These are just some examples of what we, as Australians could do, in the face of Chinese Communist bullying.
We are not helpless.
We are a strong, determined nation with an international record, sustained by our Olympic and other sporting achievements, of being a fierce competitor.
Sure, there are not many of us compared to China, but the Chinese people are not our enemy. The Communist Government of China is hostile to us and to many other nations of the world because they have lost enormous face over this vile disease ; they know it came from them, they know they tried to hide it and failed, and they know that that they, by their deception, have visited misery, economic ruin and death to millions of human beings upon the Earth.
The Chinese Communists thoroughly deserve to be held to account over their gutless behaviour.
And, the Communist apparatchiks in Beijing are psychologically incapable of accepting that!
Hence their wild, erratic behaviour.
The dragon is sorely wounded; deservedly so!