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An editorial in yesterday’s European print version of the global business newspaper Financial Times stated that when it comes to trade wars with China, US President Donald Trump was in fact ‘right’ (before admitting that such is not a phrase you will often read in this most British of newspapers).
According to the FT, China bullies its neighbors into submission when it comes to trade. For example, the import tariffs it upholds are around double those of the US, the UK and Australia.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Academic Clive Hamilton tells US Congress Committee Oz Universities are surrendering academic freedom due to China. <a href="https://t.co/8zBEhDmlof">https://t.co/8zBEhDmlof</a></p>— cameron stewart (@camstewarttheoz) <a href="https://twitter.com/camstewarttheoz/status/989635812223401984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Today that stance was repeated by Australian intellectual and author Mr Clive Hamilton, who repeated before US congress that “China wages psychological warfare on Australia”.
The Beijing rulers of ‘the middle kingdom’ know quite well they don’t have the power just yet to bully the United States and therefore has started to focus its attention to the US’s largest English speaking ally in the region, Australia.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clive Hamilton tells US Congress, "China waging 'psychological warfare' against Australia" <a href="https://t.co/kzb5goeFEv">https://t.co/kzb5goeFEv</a></p>— MauriceJWhite (@WhiteMaurice) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteMaurice/status/989659155597217792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Mr Hamilton, speaking before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which is chaired by US senator for Florida, Mr Marco Rubio, stated that Australia was currently being subjected to a Chinese Communist Party-sponsored campaign of what he called: “subversion, cyber intrusions, and harassment on the high seas”.
“Beijing knows that it cannot bully the United States, in the current environment the consequences would be unpredictable and probably counterproductive, so it is instead pressuring its allies.”
“Last week the PLA Navy challenged three Australian warships sailing through the South China Sea, simply for being there. It has scaled up its threats of economic harm unless Australia changes its ‘anti-China’ path. This psychological warfare is only stage one, with real punishment to follow if needed.”
Furthermore, according to Mr Hamilton, China’s influence now even stretches to Australian universities where he teaches, as the academies are keen to keep the well-paying international Chinese students on board: “it is no exaggeration to say that Australian universities now tiptoe over eggshells to avoid any action that may offend party bosses in China.”
Source:
Twitter: #Fridayfeeling #Browns #Australia #China #QAnon
