China says it wants to become loveable, but will Australians believe them?

China’s President Xi Jinping said this week that China wants to become more credible, loveable and respectable, but that seems easier said than done.

It’s about as likely as Peter Dutton sponsoring a refugee family, or Scott Morrison closing offshore detention centres and bringing the asylum seekers to Australia.

China’s political system, economic structure and business strategies are not compatible with those of the core countries, and it is unlikely they will ever become a developed economy or a core country.

The core countries are the 24 advanced economies (the Anglosphere, parts of Western Europe and Japan) that control the world’s markets and benefit most from them.

China would have to abandon their own core strategies to have even the remotest chance of having almost any of these countries believe they had changed, and it is unlikely they would be willing to do that.

They would need to close the re-education camps and stop forced labour in Xinjiang, which would mean they would lose control of the province and it would once again seek independence.

They would need to free Tibet as well, which would make the rest of China dependent on Tibet and Xinjiang as their main sources of water.

Outside these two areas, China does not have enough water to satisfy their needs, and 80% of what they did have is so polluted it is toxic to humans and livestock.

And then there is the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.

China would also need to drop their ridiculous claims to the East and South China Seas, which is doubtful considering their ingrained and unfounded paranoia that America and the west will contain China by blockading their ports.

On the subject of claims, China would also need to drop their so-called historical claims on territories of all 14 of their land neighbours, as well as parts of Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia and all of Taiwan.

The corner China have painted themselves into is that if they don’t correct their bad behaviour by doing all of the above, the west will never trust them, and if they do, they risk yet another civil war at home.

The question we ask is how will Australians react to China’s plans to become loveable?

The answer is probably with cynicism and ridicule of the CCP.

It would be highly unlikely that Australians would ever embrace an authoritarian dictatorship such as China, especially when they have made repeated threats of military strikes against us, the most recent being just weeks ago.

Then there are the cyber attacks which have at various times temporarily crippled our government departments, financial services and infrastructure.

And let’s not forget the CCP’s strategy to force up Australian housing prices to the point where they are no longer affordable for most people.

A recent Pew Research report found that 81% of Australians have an unfavourable view of China, which the Chinese government claims is proof of our racist culture; it isn’t – it is a distrust of the 70 million members of the CCP, and the type of insult that makes our opinion unfavourable.

It would be great to see China become a responsible partner in world affairs, but only time will tell if they can pull of what most are probably viewing as the impossible.

Craig Hill
Brisbane, Australia