Australia is unlikely to backdown. They can’t. Not like this.
Well a lot of Australians get influenced by newspaper opinion pieces like this
part1
Australia is the country that's supposed to be feeling the pressure. But a look at the evidence reveals that the supposedly mighty regime of strongman Xi Jinping is the one feeling the strain. We now have three clear points of proof.
When China's ambassador to Australia openly threatened trade boycotts against Australian products in April, he revealed how worried the regime was. It was the moment that Xi removed the mask. For years his regime had been undermining Australia – through cyberattacks, political interference, demands that Chinese Australians support Beijing's political agenda – but always kept the smiling mask of friendship in place. Remember that Xi told Australia's Parliament in 2014 that the two countries should "be harmonious neighbours who stick together in both good times and bad times".
The Chinese Communist Party's functionaries always delivered their threats and pressure tactics in private. Xi imposed a freeze on top-level contacts with Australia two years ago. He ordered a go-slow on Australian thermal coal imports last year. But coercion had never been declared openly.
When the ambassador, Cheng Jingye, went public to issue his threats against Australian beef, wine, tourism and university revenues, we all saw the truth – there is no goodwill, only gangsterism.
It was a foolish tactic. Why blow the cover story and antagonise the Australian people? Because Xi was feeling the heat. He'd bungled the coronavirus, exposed China to global criticism and pitched the whole world into recession. Keep in mind that the party was deeply anxious about its grip on power even when the economy was booming. Harvard sinologist Ross Terrill has described it as "the irreducible problem of legitimation of a government that has never been elected". "It is a state that is oppressive, yet also afraid of its own people."
And because, despite China's size and might, Xi was feeling threatened by Australia's declarations of independence. Australia's Huawei ban was a world first. A score of other countries have followed. Australia's foreign interference legislation was another first. Other democracies are looking to it as a model.
