Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 May 2021

 

AUSTRALIA’S ILLOGICAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA

Right now, the relationship between Australia and China is made out to be weak. We Australians need to know that the picture presented by the government to us is a true picture. The strength of any relationship is in its truth or love. But measuring it is not easy.

SBS news headed ‘Tamils in Australia condemn Border Force's gifting of surveillance drones to Sri Lankan authorities’ reports as follows:

What happened

[The Australian Border Force earlier this month announced it had given Sri Lankan police five surveillance drones for use in "a wide range of activities", including clamping down on maritime people smuggling.]

Why?

[Members of the Tamil community in Australia have condemned the federal government’s gifting of drones to Sri Lankan police, amid fears they could be used negatively against the country's ethnic minority. ]

That is as per local experience by minorities. 

I believe that as a global minded Australian, I have to escalate this intellectually – so it does not dilute our own investments in global relationships. During the Covid crisis – our government portrayed conflict with China’s role in this. I believe that that was rightly so if we were relying on the West in this issue. I connected the stronger attack in Victoria to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that the Victorian Government signed with China. That was a ‘takeover’ indicator – given that Victoria is a state and China is a country. The relationship was illogical and contradicted our sovereignty.

I expressed my belief at that level. As per my experience, any declaration of belief is valid and is a virtual franchise. That is true governance. When the Australian government announced that the BRI agreements were not legal, I was satisfied because it confirmed ‘logic’ at policy level.

It was however upsetting to note that the Sri Lankan government was entertaining Chinese ministers in person during this time when it was thinking of travel bubble with India. It was reported that the Sri Lankan government accepted vaccine from India. The infection rates have gone up in both countries.

Most of us believe in some form of home remedies which work due to ‘belief’. As per Hindu structure – the blessings of the guru are essential to learn effectively and also to apply knowledge at the higher level – instead of merely for personal benefits. This applies in the field of medicine also. In native medicine – the component of belief is stronger than in general medicine where the connection between the original mind that found the cure and the patient are often not known. In the case of vaccinations – India’s sharing was highlighted.

The reaction came from China – with the Defence Minister coming to Sri Lanka in person. As per today’s Daily Mirror report headed ‘Chinese FM Wang Yi to visit Sri Lanka next month’:

[ Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Sri Lanka next month making it the third senior official level visit from China in recent months, Daily Mirror learns.

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe arrived in the country last week and held talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The two countries agreed to enhance defence cooperation.

Last year, Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee was also in Colombo for bilateral discussions. He is also the chief of foreign affairs of China.

Foreign Minister Wang will arrive in the country as part of his visit to the region. Last week, he also addressed a virtual meeting with his counterparts of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He discussed, among others, cooperation on the containment of COVID-19 and poverty alleviation.

Sri Lankan government is planning to enact the Port City Economic Commission Bill on Monday to regulate the affairs of the Port City which is US $1.4 billion investment by China. ]

 

As per my reading,  the visits at a time like this are confirmations that Chinese leadership is more interested in protecting its money even if it were a threat to Sri Lankans. The Australian government’s gift for its own purpose of ‘stopping the boats’ would indirectly go to strengthen China through Sri Lankan government whose mind has already been ‘trapped’.  This would bring more victims to seek refuge in Australia, if there is a war in that part of the world. On humanitarian grounds, Australia would have the responsibility to take more refugees due to the donation of drones and that would be of our own making. Humanitarian grounds are direct under these circumstances. Without such contribution, it would have been participation in common commitment by global leaders.