Posted on 09/03/2014 12:30:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Clive Palmer, an Australian legislator and mining magnate, delivered a scathing harangue in a TV program on Monday, referring to the Chinese government as "b**tards," who "shoot their own people" and want to usurp control of Australia. He called Chinese resources companies "mongrels," which send workers to destroy the wage system and take over Australian ports and plunder minerals for free.
This is the most vicious attack by one of the Australian elite in recent months.
Not long ago, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott also made bitter remarks against China without any reason, which was quite astonishing. Now Palmer's "bastards" ravings have intensified this.
On Tuesday, several government ministers and opposition parties in Australia damned Palmer's comments - a rare unanimous move - as an attack on Australia's biggest trading partner. However, China has already fallen victim to this foul war of words.
People can imagine what would come next if a Chinese politician or business tycoon made such unscrupulous remarks by calling a whole country "bastard." This person will be doomed. But in Australia, Palmer will probably not bear too much cost for his nonsense.
China cannot let him off, or show petty kindness just because the Australian government has condemned him. China must be aware that Palmer's rampant rascality serves as a symbol that Australian society has an unfriendly attitude toward China.
China should consider imposing sanctions on Palmer and his companies, cutting off all business contacts with him and forbidding him and his senior executives into China. The sanctions could also be given to any Australian companies which have business dealings with Palmer's. China must let those prancing provocateurs know how much of a price they pay when they deliberately rile us.
Australian society has been aware that Palmer crossed the red line too far and his remarks, along with those of Bishop and Abbott, pose a direct threat to Australian-Sino relations. Canberra is waiting for China's reactions, from which they can assess the tenacity of Chinese diplomacy.
If China generously accepts the condemnations against Palmer by Australian public opinion without taking solid action to punish him, this risks giving Australians the impression that China has too much good will to bother toning it down. On the contrary, Palmer could be the last straw for worsening Sino-Australian relations. How we respond will be a turning point for Australia's understanding of China.
Palmer should be damned as the culprit. Because of him, China must teach Canberra a lesson for sabotaging a bilateral relationship. Australia has picked sides and embraced the US and Japan, but in the meantime, it keeps racking up economic profits from China. This situation is making it a radical "double-dealer" among all the nations which have relationships with China.
Business with Australia should continue, but this country must be marginalized in China's global strategy. Canberra boasts about itself having so-called strategic values, most of which, however, are created out of its own delusions.
Hooligan politics is being employed by the Australian government to deal with China. But China shouldn't care too much about it, or it will only shock us once again.
Australia is a remote business partner, and a place where the Chinese can take a trip and learn some English. These basic understandings should be the starting points for China to re-orientate Sino-Australian relations.
Whenever you see the word "hooligan" you can be certain that what you are reading was written by the Butchers of Beijing.
It's my understanding that this guy was *hanged* for being a hooligan.
Sure they shoot their people but, isn’t that a matter of practicality?
They do have less people in prison, as a percentage of population, than Australia or the USA.
China’s just waiting for the opportunity to gobble up Oz. With a total population less than that of Caliornia’s L.A. Basin, this resource-rich ally is a tempting target for the Chinese, just as it was for Japan prior to WWII. I doubt Obama gives a damn.
“O” better give a damn... the Pacific Rim is about the only place left on earth that has not completely exploded in his face!
I WILL say one thing though, for Obama... he kept our boys out of Ireland... (sarc) :)
Mining is very important to Australia’s economy and China is a major trading partner. We want good relationships with them.
But Palmer in absolutely, no way, shape or form, speaks for the Australian government. He’s one Member of Parliament out of 150 who has a party with a handful of Senators. Because the Senate is split in the way it is, his party has a degree of control over the balance of power in the Senate which makes him influential for the moment, but he doesn’t speak for the Australian government and nobody who is reasonably well informed about Australian politics, including the Chinese would think that he does.
He has a history of speaking his mind, and speaking without thinking, on all sorts of issues. He’s a loudmouth - he just happens to be a loud mouth with hundreds of millions of dollars. If he’d been more rational, the Liberal/National Coalition would have been happy to preselect him to run for a seat under their own banner - just how marginalised he is is indicated by the fact he had to start his own party to get into Parliament!
Politicians from the major parties don’t use rhetoric like he does. Sometimes they may criticise China - and that is certainly sometimes appropriate - but they do in diplomatic terms.
Punished for speaking the truth?
Sure China’s got a lot of money to spend, but they are bastards when it comes to business - specifically state-organized spying & industrial espionage on Western countries, which they do on a massive scale.
I don’t see the reverse happening.
Let the real truth come out.
Clive Palmers company has admitted charging business partners millions for a security boat that never existed, according to reports.
Mineralogy, a company owned by the billionaire mining magnate and MP, is currently facing a lawsuit from Chinese business Sino Iron.
The lawsuit alleges the business made $10 million in dishonest and fraudulent payments, with the mystery vessel a key element in the claims, News Corp reports.
Sino Iron stated that Mineralogy never bought a “marine vessel for safety and security at the Western Australian port used by the Chinese company, despite including it in the 2013 budget.
The lawsuit also claims Mineralogy never spent a reported $2 million in port security management costs and $350,000 in engineering and consultant work.
True, but it's evident the Chinese are choosing to be bolshie and take offence at Australia, refusing to recogise we can't just shoot Plamer or exile him to Norfolk island - attractive as that option seems.
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