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AUSTRALIA-SECURITY-POLITICS-CHINA
Underestimating China a ‘catastrophic failure’: Aussie intel chair
SYDNEY, Aug 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The world’s approach to containing
China’s rise resembles the “catastrophic failure” to prevent the advance of
Nazi Germany, the head of Australia’s parliamentary intelligence committee
warned Thursday.
Andrew Hastie said the country’s sovereignty and freedoms could be
threatened by Beijing, much as France lost its territory to Germany at the
beginning of World War II.
“Like the French, Australia has failed to see how mobile our
authoritarian neighbour has become,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald
newspaper.
“The next decade will test our democratic values, our economy, our
alliances and our security like no other time in Australian history.”
Hastie added that his country had failed to recognise the role of
Communist ideology in China’s infrastructure building spree in the Asia-
Pacific region, just as Western countries had once failed to understand the
motivations of former Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Hastie’s remarks were not the views of
the government but added the lawmaker was “entirely entitled to provide his
perspective”.
“We seek to work closely with [China], in the same way we do everyone in
the region,” he told reporters in Townsville.
The Chinese Embassy in Australia said Hastie had revealed “his Cold-War
mentality and ideological bias” and was “detrimental to China-Australian
relations”.
“History has proven and will continue to prove that China’s peaceful
development is an opportunity, not a threat to the world,” an embassy
spokesperson said in a statement.
“We urge certain Australian politicians to take off their ‘coloured lens’
and view China’s development path in an objective and rational way.”
Australia has been keen to maintain its traditional security alliance
with the United States and its relationship with its largest trading partner
China — an increasingly delicate balancing act as Washington and Beijing
jostle for influence in Asia and the Pacific.
Though Canberra has long worked to avoid angering Beijing, the
relationship has become strained by recent clashes over human rights and
Australia’s decision to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G network due
to security fears.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0904 hrs