James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From Mandalay to Moresby, from Manila to Melbourne, an 'iron silk curtain' is forming. A Chinese silk curtain is plunging as a parachute of leaden control on sovereign free nations—subjugating, suffocating and strangling freedom through economic means of control. Communist China has declared economic war on free democratic nations, upsetting the traditional rules based order, meaning we must carefully consider our dealings with China. China is an expansionist, rapacious communist dictatorship intent on power. Communist China is intent on domination not through traditional means of war but through three fronts of war—economic, political and cultural repression within a matrix of cyberwarfare.

Hong Kong is lost and her people are now suffering—and it wasn't subtle. Hong Kong is no longer part of a 'one nation, two system' legally bound agreement. In a grievous breach of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong is now just another communist controlled city with no freedom. Hong Kong is 'Tibet with a sea view'. We shouldn't forget that Tibet was the first nation to fall to Communist China. And we must hold China accountable for the ethnic and cultural cleansing of the Uighurs. It is time to take a strong stance against this threat to a rules based order. The Chinese Communist government want to control not by direct force but through 'iron silk' to bind others to appease them. Barbara Tuchman, in her seminal work The Guns Of August, outlined the build-up to the outbreak of war in 1914. The similarities to today are startling. President Xi Jinping is the kaiser. While the last emperor of the Qing dynasty was deposed in 1911, President Xi Jinping is the first emperor of the 'Red Mao dynasty', intent on proving his leadership and the leadership and power of his nation. Communist China is akin to imperial Germany—a growing power needing to prove power.

Over recent days the US State Department has expressed concern about China's recently enacted coastguard law, which, for the first time, explicitly allows its coastguard to fire on foreign vessels. The US State Department is, appropriately, 'concerned by language in the law that expressly ties the potential use of force, including armed force, by the China coastguard to the enforcement of China's claims, and ongoing territorial and maritime dispute in the East and South China Seas'. This recent action by China will be used to intimidate China's maritime neighbours, especially in asserting its unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea. This new threat is the next step in China's strategy to assert their dominance and expand their influence in the region. Meanwhile, Japan this week have lodged a dispute with Beijing after Chinese coastguard vessels entered Japan's territorial waters for the seventh time this year.

China has proven to us time and time again that they are more than willing to hide their actions from the rest of the world, whether it be the ethnic and cultural cleansing of the Uighurs or the COVID cover-up in Wuhan, all while trying to exert influence over other nations, particularly those nations within the South Pacific to which we have a great responsibility. As their neighbour, we have done much, but we need to be doing much, much more to strengthen our position against the influence of China not just in Papua New Guinea but across the broader Indo-Pacific. As we saw with Kokoda, New Guinea is the gateway to Australia and must be protected not just because it is in our strategic interest but because it is righteous.

Throughout the world we have seen China, the so-called developing nation, remarkably grow and expand their influence. I can recall, when backpacking in Ethiopia in 2007, seeing Chinese work gangs building roads in the hills. My concerns have been building for some time, and these concerns are shared by Queenslanders, and I know I'm not alone in expressing my concerns about the rising influence and subtle aggression of China, particularly within the Pacific region. Over time, China has slowly increased its influence and control over nations and global organisations. This is a clear step-by-step approach to the economic, political and cultural subjugation of sovereign nations.

As is becoming alarmingly clear, where China's overtures are refused and influence rebuffed, the Chinese Communist Party is prepared to flex China's economic muscle to exert pressure on other countries, including Australia, or pass laws within Beijing that give the Chinese Communist Party authority to exert significant force in any territory it deems to be its own. China used COVID as an alibi for their takeover of Hong Kong, the first COVID casualty, and I think it is very clear who is next: Taiwan. Whether we stand on the side of Taiwan or sit back and let freedom die on that island nation will be one of the greatest tests for the free world. I warn my fellow Australians that we've already allowed Hong Kong to be the 21st century's Czechoslovakia. We cannot allow Taiwan to be Poland in 1939. We must stand with the free people of Taiwan.

This expansion and the ability to make demands over so many nations means China is not only strategising for global leadership or, better put perhaps, dictatorship but seeking to position itself as a price giver not a price taker, using initiatives under the guise of development that will be used later to expand its interest or assert dominance. This form of economic slavery through the hire purchase of nations must be combatted, especially within the Pacific.

Trade with China we must, and we will, and we shall. Trade, this mercantile magic, is so important, as it enriches both our nations, but we cannot pretend that the regime in China today or tomorrow is the same China we have dealt with in the past. Agents of the Chinese communist government launch regular cyberattacks on Australia. I speak to you from the parliament of Australia, which has been under cyberattack from agents within China. This parliament has been desecrated through cyberattacks by Chinese communist government agents. We've seen our economy attacked sector by sector. We've seen Chinese agents attempt to buy influence in political parties. Our universities have prostituted themselves.

If there is a light to be found or a glimmer of hope for liberty, freedom and democracy, it is that the world is waking up to this red dawn. Beacons are being lit. Bells are ringing. The Quad of Australia, India, Japan and America must quadruple and quadruple some more. We must continue to support our neighbours in the Pacific. We must stand with Taiwan. Our friends are our mates, and our friends' friends are also our mates. We must continue to strengthen our relationship with our mates around the world. We cannot beat about the bush. Communist China is a threat to a rules based order. We must be careful. We must be aware. The red dawn is upon us. The iron silk parachute is falling.