And there are more troubling signs that Australia is turning a blind eye to critical areas where Beijing is encroaching on Australian sovereignty and rights.
Why would Albanese go easy? Because the government has adopted a policy of “stabilisation”, a self-imposed trap. If your stated aim is “stabilisation”, you don’t want to do anything that might roil relations. The moment there’s a sign of destabilisation, your policy has failed.
The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t feel so constrained. And we’re indebted to the protester on the lawns of Parliament House on Monday who tried to burn a Chinese Communist Party flag. He didn’t succeed – the police took the flag away – but he reminds us of the vital distinction between China and the Chinese Communist Party; Australia has no quarrel with the people or nation of China, but it has very deep differences with the Chinese Communist Party.
What are the troubling signs of Australian wilful blindness? Most alarming was the disturbing news that agents of CCP influence are threatening the physical safety of Australians, in Australia, as the authorities watch on.
On Saturday, my colleague Matthew Knott broke this story: “Federal police told prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party they were suspected targets of a foreign interference operation, warning them to avoid adopting a predictable daily routine to prevent putting themselves in danger.”
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The Australian Federal Police issued these warnings to Drew Pavlou and Vicky Xu 10 months ago, urging them to keep the information secret. The pair decided to speak to Knott “out of frustration that no arrests had been made, or charges laid”.
Pavlou, a former Senate candidate, and Xu, a prominent journalist, are people with high profiles and access to resources. We can only imagine what the party is getting away with among the more vulnerable members of the Chinese Australian community. These are the prime targets of the party and its United Front operatives; they need vigilant protection from Australian authorities.
Seven years since the parliament passed laws against foreign interference, it’s obvious they’re not getting it. The CCP evidently still threatens our people. Is this a condition of “stabilisation” – tolerating aggressive and illegal harassment by a foreign nation’s covert agents? When Knott quizzed Albanese about this at a press conference on Monday, the prime minister dodged.
There are others; ANU’s Elizabeth Buchanan has alerted us to the fact that the CCP has built three research stations on Australian Antarctic Territory, bases with dual civilian and military functions. What is Canberra doing about it? “Missing in action”, says Buchanan.
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It took a major CCP security deal with the Solomons to wake Australia to Beijing’s intrusions into our northern approaches. What will it take to get Australia active on its intrusions into our southern territories?
Finally, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual report on nuclear warheads reported on Monday that “for the first time China is believed to have some warheads on high operational alert”. Not much Australia can do about that, but it should keep us from relapsing into our traditional stupor.
The mask is back on and the tactics have changed, but Beijing’s strategy has not.