China must be told to stop interfering in Australian affairs

Graeme Smith, abc.net.au

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Monday night's episode of Four Corners lined up an array of academics, bureaucrats and politicians expressing alarm about China's attempts to influence Australia through clandestine activities.

Australia's former ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, was a notable exception, observing that China's efforts were much like those of other nations, particularly Israel.

Some similarities between the external activities of Israel and China are striking. ...

Israel is not our major trading partner. There are not one million people of Israeli descent living in Australia. Israel does not influence sea lanes to our immediate north. Israel is a democracy.

Beyond this, the purpose and nature of China's "influence operations" are quite different. 

Israel is not our major trading partner. There are not one million people of Israeli descent living in Australia. Israel does not influence sea lanes to our immediate north. Israel is a democracy.

Beyond this, the purpose and nature of China's "influence operations" are quite different.

China working to 'persuade, manage, discipline and control'

As John Fitzgerald noted in an episode of the Little Red Podcast, "the Propaganda Bureau and others have given up on trying to persuade non-Chinese Australians … it couldn't care what they think. Rather it's messaging to them the consequences of what they think. Whereas within the Chinese community there's an effort to persuade, manage, discipline and control."

The first incident to alarm Australia's intelligence service — the sudden mobilisation and arrival of thousands of Chinese students to Canberra to protect the Olympic torch ("sacred flame" in Chinese media reports) from anti-China protesters — provided a perfect illustration of this difference.

For mainstream Australian TV viewers, the sight of Chinese students being arrested after shouting down and assaulting pro-Tibet protesters looked like a colossal soft power fail.

But the elaborately choreographed and expensively assembled protest wasn't staged for non-Chinese consumption. It sent an effective message that the party line extended well beyond China's borders.

The comparison also does little justice to the sophistication of Israel's public diplomacy, embodied by Australian-born Mark Regev, former chief spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, now ambassador to Great Britain.

Will we ever see an Australian-born Chinese citizen arguing — in a reassuring drawl — for Australia to give China "a fair go" in Tibet or Xinjiang? It seems unlikely.

It also misses the point that Israeli citizens can choose from a range of political parties with different foreign policies.

Chinese citizens cannot remove their ruling party, or even mildly rebuke it abroad for failing to deal with air pollution.

Under President Xi Jinping's more assertive approach, Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives even feel comfortable organising the disruption of international forums in Australia, and inciting other countries to join in. ...