*** 28-Nov-20 World View -- Australia-China relations become more toxic through boycotts and accusations
This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Australia-China relations become more toxic through boycotts and accusations
- China's bribery and extortion
- China's official list of 14 blunt complaints about Australia's government
- National security threat of China's Huawei 5G networks
****
**** Australia-China relations become more toxic through boycotts and accusations
****
Australian crayfish are one of the products targeted by China (9News)
The toxic relationship between the government of Australia and the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become incresingly apparent after a
blunt verbal CCP attack on Australia's government, accusing it of
"poisoning bilateral relations," at the same time the China is
escalating its economic boycotts and blacklisting of imports from
Australia.
Commenting on China's action, a CCP official said to Australian
officials: "China is angry. If you make China the enemy, China will be
the enemy."
On Friday, China announced 107% to 212% tariffs on wine imported from
Australia. This is only the latest economic attack by China on
Australia. In recent months, China has been blacklisting one
Australian product after another, including lobster, cherries, beef,
sugar, cotton, barley and timber. Another blacklisted import is coal.
More than 50 ships have been anchored off Chinese ports for months
waiting to deliver $500 million of Australian ports.
However, the most important commodity that China imports from
Australia remains untouched -- the $60 billion worth of iron ore that
Australia exports to China annually, and which China desperately
needs.
Although these disputes have been simmering for years, China began an
extremely agressive series of economic attacks on Australia in April,
when Australian officials called for a joint international
investigation of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Australia's
announcement was thought to be targeting China, which has repeatedly
tried to dodge responsibility for the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Earlier this year, the CCP was blaming the US army for developing the
virus and somehow secretly spreading it in China's Wuhan wet markets.
Lately, CCP officials have been promoting a bizarre claim that
the virus originated elsewhere and arrived in China on frozen
food packaging.
So an Australian call for an international investigation on the
origins of the virus has brought about the CCP's usual hysterical
rantings and threats and demands that everyone shut up and do as China
tells them. However, this time, the CCP has backed up its hysterical
rantings with the boycott of Australia's products.
The CCP has also been infuriated by Australia's criticisms of China's
National Security Law, which has effectively ended the Hong Kong
democracy that was supposed to last until at least 2047.
****
**** China's bribery and extortion
****
Bribery and extortion are the CCP's standard foreign policy tools, and
China has used these tools for years to force dozens of countries to
involuntarily end diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Now China is
using the same techniques against a much larger country, Australia.
Australia’s former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says that China's
tactics fail will only damage China's standing abroad.
<QUOTE>"The fundamental point is this: when someone tries to
coerce you or bully you, threaten you, you can’t take a backward
step.
If you do, then all that will do is invite more coercive activity.
The best thing that can happen, frankly, is for this episode to
come to an end, and for Australia and China to get back to a
traditional, businesslike relationship.
Has it won China more influence? No. Has it won China more
friends [or] persuaded other countries to be more compliant? No
... if the object of your foreign policy is, among other things,
to win friends and increase your influence in the world, how is
any of this helpful?"<END QUOTE>
Turnbull is saying in calm diplomatic terms the same thing that I've
been saying for years: That the CCP policies are insane, and always
make any situation worse.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, mutual relations
between China and Australia have become increasingly hostile for the
last few years, and as the populations of both countries are becoming
increasingly nationalistic and belligerent in the generational Crisis
era, this worsening situation will lead to war.
This is also a good time to respond to the frequently heard statements
like, "Countries A and B will never go to war, because trade between
the two countries is good, and war will be bad for business." If this
were true, there would never have been a war. What actually happens
is that trade does not prevent a war. Instead, trade makes the
situation worse, because the stronger trading partner uses trade as
one more weapon of war, as we're seeing now in the case of China and
Australia.
****
**** China's official list of 14 blunt complaints about Australia's government
****
Last week, in another incredibly bizarre CCP move, a sheet of paper
containing 14 blunt complaints about Australia's government was leaked
to three Australian news agencies. In other words, these were
official complaints by the CCP, but instead of notifying Australia's
government directly, or instead of posting them on a web site, the
Chinese Embassy called up reporters and scheduled meetings, but said
nothing at the meetings except to hand over, in each case, the sheet
of paper.
The list included complaints about Australia's banning Huawei's 5G
routers on national security grounds, complaints about speaking out
about the South China Sea, and complaints about "siding with the US"
anti-China campaign.
The following is the official list of 14 complaints, as they were
printed on the Embassy officials sheet of paper:
- foreign investment decisions, with acquisitions blocked on
opaque national security grounds in contravention of ChAFTA/since
2018, more than 10 Chinese investment projects have been rejected by
Australia citing ambiguous and unfounded "national security concerns"
and putting restrictions in areas like infrastructure, agriculture and
animal husbandry.
- the decision banning Huawei Technologies and ZTE from the 5G
network, over unfounded national security concerns, doing the bidding
of the US by lobbying other countries
- foreign interference legislation, viewed as targeting China and in
the absence of any evidence.
- politicization and stigmatization of the normal exchanges and
cooperation between China and Australia and creating barriers and
imposing restrictions, including the revoke of visas for Chinese
scholars.
- call for an international independent inquiry into the COVID-19
virus, acted as a political manipulation echoing the US attack on
China
- incessant wanton interference in China's Xinjiang, bong Kong and
Taiwan affairs; spearheading the crusade against China in certain
multilateral forums
- the first non littoral country to make a statement on the South
China Sea to the United Nations
- siding with the US' anti-China campaign and spreading
disinformation imported from the US around China's efforts of
containing COV1D-19.
- the latest legislation to scrutinize agreements with a foreign
government targeting towards China and aiming to torpedo the Victorian
participation in B&R
- provided funding to anti-China think tank for spreading untrue
reports, peddling lies around Xinjiang and so-called China
infiltration aimed at manipulating public opinion against China
- the early dawn search and reckless seizure of Chinese jounalists'
homes and properties without any charges and giving any explanations
- thinly veiled allegations against China on cyber attacks without
any evidence
- outrageous condemnation of the governing party of China by MPs and
racist attacks against Chinese or Asian people.
- an unfriendly or antagonistic report on China by media, poisoning
the atmosphere of bilateral relations
In other words, shut up and do as you're told.
****
**** National security threat of China's Huawei 5G networks
****
This is a good time to repeat the situation with China's 5G routers.
It is absolutely certain that these routers contain "backdoors" that
permit China's military not only to spy on any traffic traveling
through them, but also to control them, possibly shutting down entire
networks in time of war.
First off, I'm the expert on this subject, not some reporter or
politician who majored in sociology or women's studies in college. I
spent five years of my career developing board-level operating systems
for embedded systems, so I know how easy it would be to install a
"backdoor" into a device that would allow the device to be controlled
remotely by China's military. Furthermore, an implementation that
uses public/private key encryption technology could be designed in
such a way that the backdoor could not be detected, even by someone
who suspects that the backdoor is there.
I have the skills to do this fairly easily, and there are undoubtedly
many Chinese engineers with the same skills. So it would be very easy
for Huawei to install undetectable backdoors into all its devices,
allowing the devices to be controlled by China's military.
Furthermore, in 2017, the CCP passed the National Intelligence Law,
which demands that all organizations, including Huawei, "support,
cooperate with, and collaborate with" China's military in collecting
intelligence, even when doing so is illegal. That makes it certain
that Huawei's routers can be controlled remotely by China's military.
So any country or company that has installed Huawei networks and
devices can be easily spied on by China's military, and the network
can be controlled or shut down by China's military, for example at
time of war.
Sources:
- China says relations with Australia are in 'a sharp downturn' -- and it's all Canberra's fault (CNN, 18-Nov-2020)
- China to impose temporary anti-dumping measures on Australian wine imports (Reuters, 26-Nov-2020)
- Satellite images appear to show China developing area along disputed border with India and Bhutan (CNN, 26-Nov-2020)
- Column: China's crackdown on Australian coking coal hurts its steel industry - Russell (Reuters, 26-Nov-2020)
- With frozen food clampdown, China points overseas as source of coronavirus (Reuters, 26-Nov-2020)
- What is the Quad and can it counter China’s rise? (Al-Jazeera, 25-Nov-2020)
- Australia and China: It’s Complicated (Diplomat, 24-Nov-2020)
- Australia Seeks to Break China Coal Stalemate as Tensions Rise (Bloomberg, 25-Nov-2020)
- China-Australia relations: termination of free trade deal ahead of review unlikely despite tensions, experts say (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 26-Nov-2020)
- In an On-brand Move, China Issues Diktat to Australia (Diplomat, 18-Nov-2020)
- 'If you make China the enemy, China will be the enemy': Beijing's fresh threat to Australia (Sydney Morning Herald, 18-Nov-2020)
- China Gives Explanation for Pummeling Australia on Trade (Bloomberg, 17-Nov-2020)
- Woodsize / Scarborough / Australia-China Spat Threatens LNG Deal (Oil Price, 12-Nov-2020)
- China Blacklist Strands More Than 50 Australia Coal Cargoes (Bloomberg, 24-Nov-2020)
- Papua New Guinea / Chinese fishing plant in Torres Strait raises alarm for Australian industry and islanders (Guardian, London, 27-Nov-2020)
- Alarm over discovery of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels near Galápagos Islands (Guardian, London, 27-Jul-2020)
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison ‘enhances co-operation’ with Europe over ‘destabilising’ South China Sea (News.com, Australia, 26-Nov-2020)
- 'There it was, China's list of grievances': How 9News got the dossier at the heart of the latest diplomatic scuffle between Canberra and Beijing (9News, Australia, 23-Nov-2020)
- China shows official list of reasons for anger with Australia (9News, Australia, 18-Nov-2020)
- The China-Australia Crisis From China's Perspective (Memri, 25-Nov-2020)
- Australia-China relations: attempts to strong-arm Canberra only damage Beijing’s standing, ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull warns (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 27-Nov-2020)
- China sharply ramps up trade conflict with Australia over political grievances (Washington Post, 27-Nov-2020)
- Australia’s coronavirus disputes with China are growing. So are debates over its deep economic ties to Beijing. (Washington Post, 1-May-2020)
- China slaps up to 200% tariffs on Australian wine (BBC, 27-Nov-2020)
- How Australia-China relations have hit 'lowest ebb in decades' (BBC, 11-Oct-2020)
- China slaps 200% tax on Australia wine amid tensions (AP, 27-Nov-2020)
- China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DFAT, Australia)
Related articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Australia, China,
Wuhan Coronavirus, Hong Kong, National Security Law,
Taiwan, Malcolm Turnbull, Huawei Technologies, 5G
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site:
http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum:
http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View:
http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe