https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-28/shorten-takes-to-chinese-social-media-platfrom-wechat/10946496
"Mr Shorten said he welcomed the rise of China and did not see Beijing as a threat."
I know politicians need to distance themselves from genuinely racially motivated politics. However, they need to be careful that doing so doesn't cloud their judgement on the overall long term strategic view. Most of the world is finally waking up to the Chinese regime's long term vision and need to tread very carefully.
I'll give you another example. The leader of the Greens in Tasmania raised a very valid point of her concerns about growing influence in Australian politics of Chinese Govt linked individuals and the selling of Australian assets to oraganisations and individuals linked to the Chinese govt. What was her reward for making such a valid point? Her own party, in their predictable rush to signal their superior virtue on race issues, screamed RACIST!! And in a more bizarre twist, they were backed up by the neo-capitalists of the Libs (who will just sell anything to the highest bidder) who also screamed RACIST!
We have this relationship of strange bedfellows, between virtue signalling lefties - who habitually scream the word, RACIST at the drop of a hat - and neo-cons who simply want to sell to the highest bidder and don't care much of the consequences, as long as it benefits their wallet.
Over the next decade or two, just as the L-NP coalition will continue to fracture between the conservatives and the moderate factions. I think there is the potential to see the ALP fracture. And the catalyst to an ALP split could be the rise of China and increasing covert Chinese govt influence of ALP politicians. And with ALP politicians going above and beyond in attempting to portray themselves as not racist, there could be a dangerous tendency to turn a blind eye to such influences.
It wouldn't be unprecedented either. Remember, the ALP split back in the 1950s, where the anti-communist, more socially conservative faction split off to form the Democratic Labour Party (who by the way, still exist in a minor form). This could be essentially the same thing with a modern twist.
I think the point here is, just as the neo-cons pursuit of money and growth at any cost clouds their wider strategic judgement and awareness. So does the natural tendency to self-flagellate and overshoot the runway on issues of racial politics from the left side of the political spectrum.
"Mr Shorten said he welcomed the rise of China and did not see Beijing as a threat."
I know politicians need to distance themselves from genuinely racially motivated politics. However, they need to be careful that doing so doesn't cloud their judgement on the overall long term strategic view. Most of the world is finally waking up to the Chinese regime's long term vision and need to tread very carefully.
I'll give you another example. The leader of the Greens in Tasmania raised a very valid point of her concerns about growing influence in Australian politics of Chinese Govt linked individuals and the selling of Australian assets to oraganisations and individuals linked to the Chinese govt. What was her reward for making such a valid point? Her own party, in their predictable rush to signal their superior virtue on race issues, screamed RACIST!! And in a more bizarre twist, they were backed up by the neo-capitalists of the Libs (who will just sell anything to the highest bidder) who also screamed RACIST!
We have this relationship of strange bedfellows, between virtue signalling lefties - who habitually scream the word, RACIST at the drop of a hat - and neo-cons who simply want to sell to the highest bidder and don't care much of the consequences, as long as it benefits their wallet.
Over the next decade or two, just as the L-NP coalition will continue to fracture between the conservatives and the moderate factions. I think there is the potential to see the ALP fracture. And the catalyst to an ALP split could be the rise of China and increasing covert Chinese govt influence of ALP politicians. And with ALP politicians going above and beyond in attempting to portray themselves as not racist, there could be a dangerous tendency to turn a blind eye to such influences.
It wouldn't be unprecedented either. Remember, the ALP split back in the 1950s, where the anti-communist, more socially conservative faction split off to form the Democratic Labour Party (who by the way, still exist in a minor form). This could be essentially the same thing with a modern twist.
I think the point here is, just as the neo-cons pursuit of money and growth at any cost clouds their wider strategic judgement and awareness. So does the natural tendency to self-flagellate and overshoot the runway on issues of racial politics from the left side of the political spectrum.
