Australia and NZ Finally Agree on China

In my recent series of posts on the Australia-New Zealand defence relationship, I warned that New Zealand was in growing danger of drifting further from its ANZAC partner. The most obvious point of difference recently has been China.

Where Australia has become something of the poster child for Western push-back on Beijing’s aggressive expansion, New Zealand has been much more accommodating. Jacinda Ardern is more and more openly entertaining signing New Zealand on to the Belt and Road Initiative. New Zealand alone of the Five Eyes allies has refused to bar China’s Huawei from its 5G rollout. Most tellingly, when the rest of the Five Eyes nations issued a joint statement on Hong Kong, New Zealand issued its own.

But in a welcome sign of renewed bipartisanship, New Zealand and Australia have issued a new joint statement on China’s Uighur genocide.

In a joint statement with New Zealand, Australia has backed international sanctions against two Chinese officials for “serious human rights abuses” against Uighur Muslims.

The statement tellingly refrains from calling the genocide what it is, despite a recent independent investigation finding that China had breached every point of the internationally-recognised definition of genocide. This is hardly surprising: formally accusing China of genocide would have dramatic consequences for international relations – and for businesses trading with a recognised genocide state.

The measures, announced overnight by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, have now been endorsed by Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in a joint statement.

“The Australian and New Zealand Governments today reiterate their grave concerns about the growing number of credible reports of severe human rights abuses against ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang,” the statement read.

“In particular, there is clear evidence of severe human rights abuses that include restrictions on freedom of religion, mass surveillance, large-scale extrajudicial detentions, as well as forced labour and forced birth control, including sterilisation.”

Minister Payne and Minister Mahuta said in the statement that they “share” Canada, the EU, the US and the UK’s “deep concerns, which are held across the Australian and New Zealand communities”.

China, for its part, is running through its usual playbook: lie, deny and attack.

While China initially denied the existence of the camps, more recently it has defended them as a “necessary measure against terrorism” following separatist violence in the Xinjiang region.

In a statement, a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said they “strongly oppose” Minister Payne’s “so-called statement on Xinjiang”.

“The allegations, in disregard of facts and based on disinformation and lies, are unwarranted attacks against China and out of pure political manipulation,” they said.

“They once again fully expose the deep-seated ideological prejudices and the despicable tactic of smearing China on the Australian side. Such attempt is entirely futile. Our commitment to sovereignty, security and development interests remains firm and strong.”

If the above sounds patently absurd: it is. But what we think of it is unimportant: this is the Chinese Communist Party playing to the home crowd – and to its Western lickspittles.

In a series of statements last night, the US and allies in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific announced sanctions – including travel bans and asset freezes – targeting senior officials in Xinjiang[…]

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the abuse of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region “one of the worst human rights crises of our time”.

“I think it’s clear that by acting with our partners – 30 of us in total – we are sending the clearest message to the Chinese government, that the international community will not turn a blind eye to such serious and systematic violations of basic human rights and that we will act in concert to hold those responsible to account,” he told fellow parliamentarians.

Of all the nations, the US – perhaps surprisingly, under the Biden administration – went all the way and called China’s atrocities for what they are.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that China was committing “genocide and crimes against humanity”.

Thailand Daily

We all know what China is going to do: ignore the criticism and attack its critics. What needs to happen now is for Western nations to take a firmer stand against China and push back against its “Silent Invasion”.

More importantly, hard questions need to be asked of Western businesses making billions off the back of a genocidal state. Apple, Disney, Australia’s mining billionaires – all of them have to explain just why they’re dealing with the Nazi Germany of the 21st Century.

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