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The Forum > Article Comments > China could well be a problem for Australia > Comments

China could well be a problem for Australia : Comments

By Peter Coates, published 4/8/2008

China’s major policies - energy security, new naval weapons and use of soft power in East Timor - could present problems for Australia.

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Thanks for this article. I’ve been feeling a bit lonely banging the drum.
Of course we need to be dealing with local issues and stop thinking that we are "a power" to be recon with. Nor should we pretend to be the US' deputy sheriff.
We can't afford to be so arrogantly WAS (P or C).

God wasn't an Englishman after all. We should learn to play nice and smart.
The US is only obliged to consult. It'll only get involved if it suits their interests. In WW2 the Brits were prepared to sacrifice us for mother England why do we assume the US wouldn't do the same?

We need our own 'Regional (Asian) sensitive policy'. We've bullied East Timor and other south Pacific nations and offended Muslims with out ‘arrogant notions’ and adventurism with the US. Why wouldn't they become friend with the biggest Asian power?

We need to ditch short term policies making and go for something more appropriate.
In might help if we also ditch our prejudices and understand them better.
This doesn’t mean we should be bow to the East just be less dogmatic how we do it.
Posted by examinator, Monday, 4 August 2008 6:38:56 PM
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Pericles

You said "My question, every time I see yet another article that sobs "the Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming", is... so what?"

So many of China’s subject peoples sob because their land was taaken from them by Beijing conquests. Do you blame the Chinese invasion of Tibet on America or Western capitalism?

Many Muslims of Western China appear to be in conflict with the rich Communists of Beijing (16 police dead today http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ed15789e-61f0-11dd-9ff9-000077b07658.html ) I suppose you call Chinese Communist "capitalists". Its easy but its the Chinese Communist Party that is the real world authority on Communist definitions.

You say "Maybe if someone could explain to me why economic colonization is only OK when it is undertaken by the USA?"

The difference is that America protected us in World War Two while the Chinese under Mao fought our troops in Korea.

Times change but the Communist Party that Mao built still rules. A poster of Mao BTW still hangs high over Tiananmen Square.

Why is that? He died in 1976.

Is he some sought of God that the Party and many others revere?

Are we more like that country or America?

Given a choice do we trade with like-minded countries or out of fear and profit?

A balance of all these things perhaps. All very relevant under Rudd.

Why the unprecedented security in Beijing - more than Athens in 2004? - see this earlier article in Newsweekly.http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2008may10_c.html

Does the Central Committee fear that China's subject peoples will rise up or, almost as bad, embarrass it?

The imperialism of western countries in the past does not excuse Beijing's actions in its mainland Empire now. Equally it would be sad for us if we eventually became a dependency of that Empire.

Peter Coates
Posted by plantagenet, Monday, 4 August 2008 11:53:06 PM
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My concern is the seemingly silent sale of far north Queensland's mineral resources to the Chinese Government. Please see http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15011 ... Billions of dollars have changed hands, massive infrastructure is already planned and budgeted for, ecological damage on a scale unsurpassed in this country is about to happen and there is. Silence.

It is very interesting to note that as many times as I have contacted the Foreign Investment Review Board department of the Treasury offices, nobody is yet to provide me with public documents relating to the common procedures that would normally relate to such a massive overseas purchase of Australian property.

It is a known fact that China has all but depleted their own mineral reserves. See Sudan and Zimbabwe for immediate examples. It is also known fact in real estate circles that the Chinese Government is buying massive packets of land, and the general consensus is that this is to be developed into housing for the 5 million Chinese citizens that will be calling Australia home in the next ten years.

This is not a state issue. This is a national and worldwide issue.

I'm worried.
Posted by Adeena, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 12:27:38 AM
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Adeena,
The large parcels of land are for profit building houses is merely a vector.
They own Bay View in the Redlands a huge development. They bought the land because it had a 30YO building approval (thanks Joh!)
Of the several thousand houses there now most are owned by Queenslanders and the odd foreigner (nothing odder than kiwis :-)).
I don't think your fears are well based.
Some years ago the fear was the Japonese were buying up Surfers. When there was a down turn they mostly sold out.There is more arab money there than asian. If you want something to blame the development laws like IPA with provisions like injurious affection is a good place to start. Profit has no nationality.
The resources may be strategic though.
Posted by examinator, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 1:49:28 AM
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Many thanks for you response, examinator.

My concern is not based on the real estate sales, my concern is the quiet sell off of mining rights. Generally, such a large international investment in Australia requires FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval. The administrative process of this generates public paperwork. To date, even through numerous requests, this paperwork is not available.

The particular project I am referring to as a project of Chalco has huge economic, environmental and social ramifications for Australia as whole. This is not an income generating project. China has bought the minerals. We will not be selling our product to an overseas buyer. An overseas buyer has already bought it. All they have to do it remove it and refine it.

The buyer in question is now demanding up to AU$300 million investment in infrastructure, to be paid for by Australia. This infrastructure is being planned and has already started with compulsory acquisition of land.

As for the projected environmental impact, I find it very hard to equate the silence surrounding this project. China has already depleted all their reserves of bauxite in their own country. So now far north Queensland is going to be strip-mined and key environmental points destroyed. No more Port Douglas. No more Great Barrier Reef. No more wetlands. The fall out from this type of project is still being felt in Townsville and surrounds, where children growing up in that area have over 4 times the internationally accepted levels of lead in their bodies. Leukemia rates are well above average. I will post links to research in another post.
Posted by Adeena, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 9:24:20 AM
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But for one point, VK3AUU

>>Pericles, I would suggest that you take a good hard look at how the Chinese government does business with its own citizens and then you might be a bit more concerned about them taking over here.<<

I am entirely unconcerned about them "taking over here", because I don't for one moment believe that they have the slightest interest in doing so.

Unless of course we declare war. In which case they will.

No, I strongly believe that they will achieve all their economic goals, without feeling the need to engage militarily.
Posted by Pericles, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 10:08:40 AM
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