The Government of China is displeased with Australia for 14 specific reasons. We reprint these as an example of incoherent government-speak. Sometimes, however hard you try, black just cannot appear as white.
Apparently Australia has erred by:
- banning Huawei 5G phones from rolling out 5G over ‘unfounded’ security concerns
- targeting China without any evidence by introducing foreign interference legislation
- blocking foreign investment decisions with acquisitions blocked on opaque national security grounds in contravention of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement. 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
- creating barriers and imposing restrictions by politicising and stigmatising the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia, including the revoke of visas for Chinese scholars
- calling for an international independent inquiry into the COVID-19 virus, acting as a political manipulation echoing the US attack on China
- spearheading the crusade against China in certain multilateral forums, for example, the incessant wanton interference in China’s Xinjiang province, Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs;
- being the first non-littoral country to make a comment on the South China Sea to the United Nations
- siding with US’s anti-China campaign and spreading disinformation imported from the US around China’s efforts of containing COVID-19.
- introducing the latest legislation to scrutinise agreements with a foreign government targeting towards China and aiming to torpedo the Victorian participation in B&R.
- funding anti-China think tank for spreading untrue reports, peddling lies around Xinjiang and so-called China infiltration aimed at manipulating public opinion against China.
- searching and recklessly seizing Chinese journalists’ homes and properties without any charge or providing any explanations.
- making thinly-veiled allegations against China on cyber-attacks without any evidence
- condemning the governing party of China and instigating racist attacks against Chinese or Asian people.
- producing an unfriendly or antagonistic report on China through the media, poisoning the atmosphere of bilateral relations.