{"id":49717,"date":"2019-08-12T11:42:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T01:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=49717"},"modified":"2019-08-12T14:34:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T04:34:20","slug":"its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Trade minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday weighed into the debate over\u00a0Andrew Hastie\u2019s warning about China rise<\/a>. Birmingham said<\/a> colleagues should ask themselves two questions before speaking out on \u2018sensitive foreign policy matters\u2019.<\/p>\n

These were: \u2018Is the making of those comments in a public way necessary? And is it helpful to Australia\u2019s national interest?\u2019<\/p>\n

On a narrow view, the warning by Hastie\u2014the chair of the powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security\u2014about Australia not being alive enough to the dangers of an ever-more-powerful China was not \u2018necessary\u2019; nor was it particularly helpful to a government trying to manage a relationship that gets more complicated all the time.<\/p>\n

But the idea that backbenchers shouldn\u2019t voice considered views on such a major long-term issue for this country shows a certain contempt for parliamentary democracy.<\/p>\n

Birmingham, speaking on the ABC, said: \u2018There are a range of ways in which any of us can contribute and we can do that with direct discussion with ministers and with leadership in backbench committees and other ways\u2019.<\/p>\n

Decoded, the message to the backbench was: Boys and girls, when in public just follow the talking points we give you.<\/p>\n

Amid the noisy chatter and clatter of our current politics, serious foreign policy discussions among politicians are relatively rare.<\/p>\n

But the broad community debate grows ever stronger about China and its implications for Australia\u2014including the now-great power\u2019s trajectory, our dependence on it economically, its reach into this country (including through investment and our educational institutions), and how we juggle our respective relationships with it and the United States.<\/p>\n

New Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma entered the China debate at the weekend, with a robust thread of nearly a dozen tweets<\/a>, in support of Hastie.<\/p>\n

A former senior diplomat, Sharma is more steeped in foreign policy than most on the frontbench.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hastie is right to ring the bell on this issue, and to warn that our greatest vulnerability lies in our thinking, which is Panglossian at times\u2019, he wrote.<\/p>\n

Significantly, Sharma also supported Hastie\u2019s comparison with France\u2019s failure to comprehend properly the rise of Germany before World War II.<\/p>\n

\u2018In WW2, we failed to realise early enough that German ambitions could not be accommodated. National Socialist Germany was not a status quo power, but we mistook it as such, or deceived ourselves that it was\u2019, Sharma wrote.<\/p>\n

Hastie\u2019s reference to Germany had been sharply condemned on Friday by Senate leader Mathias Cormann, who said it was \u2018a clumsy and inappropriate analogy.\u2019<\/p>\n

But Hastie was verballed over his invoking of Germany. He wasn\u2019t saying the Chinese and Nazi regimes were the same\u2014he was talking about the underestimation of the threats they posed to other countries.<\/p>\n

Hastie could have drawn another parallel\u2014with the failure of countries in the 1930s to fully appreciate the looming threat from Japan.<\/p>\n

Sharma noted that rising powers inevitably cause convulsions\u2014\u2018the challenge is to accommodate a rising power if<\/em> it is sufficiently status quo in nature that it can be accommodated. This was the thesis with China for much of the early 2000s\u2019, Sharma wrote.<\/p>\n

\u2018But if the rising power is revisionist in nature, and cannot be accommodated within the existing order\u2014because it fundamentally does not accept the legitimacy of that order\u2014then the future becomes much tougher\u2019.<\/p>\n

Given it was clear China\u2019s ideological direction and ambition had become \u2018far more pronounced\u2019 under its current leadership, \u2018our strategy and thinking need to reflect this shift, which is basically Hastie\u2019s point\u2014that we need to remove the blinkers from our eyes, recognise reality for what it is, and act accordingly\u2019, Sharma said.<\/p>\n

\u2018This does not mean we should not be pursuing a constructive and positive relationship with China\u2014we should be. Nor does it compel us to make a \u201cchoice\u201d. But we need to be honest with ourselves about the challenges of managing this relationship and what might lie ahead.\u2019<\/p>\n

Of course, Australian government policy in the past few years has been reacting to what has been seen as a heightening Chinese threat\u2014even while the government has often been unwilling to admit as much.<\/p>\n

The Pacific \u2018step-up\u2019 is all about China. So was the legislation, enacted by the Turnbull government, against foreign interference. The exclusion of Huawei from the 5G network was an unequivocal message. Australia\u2019s intensified efforts to counter the cybersecurity threat have China front of mind.<\/p>\n

The Chinese predictably reacted with annoyance<\/a> to Hastie\u2019s comments. But they are much more attuned to the actions Australia has taken and continues to take\u2014measures which have been and are in the national interest. That\u2019s the basic reason why Australia\u2013China relations are strained.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s trying to shut down backbench contributions to this debate is less a matter of the \u2018national interest\u2019 than an exercise of attempted control of its MPs in its own interest.<\/p>\n

In fact, it might be counterproductive for the national interest, which may require the Australian public to acquire a much better understanding than they have now of what could be increasingly difficult times and decisions in the years to come. \"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trade minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday weighed into the debate over\u00a0Andrew Hastie\u2019s warning about China rise. Birmingham said colleagues should ask themselves two questions before speaking out on \u2018sensitive foreign policy matters\u2019. These were: \u2018Is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":792,"featured_media":49718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,2212,52,376],"class_list":["post-49717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-australia-china-relations","tag-china","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trade minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday weighed into the debate over\u00a0Andrew Hastie\u2019s warning about China rise. Birmingham said colleagues should ask themselves two questions before speaking out on \u2018sensitive foreign policy matters\u2019. These were: \u2018Is ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-12T01:42:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-12T04:34:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michelle Grattan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle Grattan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":371},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-12T01:42:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-12T04:34:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/eb084c50a28bd7c30cd9af66b7b90b4a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/eb084c50a28bd7c30cd9af66b7b90b4a\",\"name\":\"Michelle Grattan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/509d9dc65145ffc75015af5d9f0e778c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/509d9dc65145ffc75015af5d9f0e778c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michelle Grattan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/michelle-grattan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist","og_description":"Trade minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday weighed into the debate over\u00a0Andrew Hastie\u2019s warning about China rise. Birmingham said colleagues should ask themselves two questions before speaking out on \u2018sensitive foreign policy matters\u2019. These were: \u2018Is ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2019-08-12T01:42:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-12T04:34:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":660,"height":371,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michelle Grattan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michelle Grattan","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hastie1208.jpg","width":660,"height":371},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/","name":"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-08-12T01:42:19+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-12T04:34:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/eb084c50a28bd7c30cd9af66b7b90b4a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/its-not-in-the-national-interest-for-the-backbench-to-shut-up-about-china\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It\u2019s not in the \u2018national interest\u2019 for the backbench to shut up about China"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/eb084c50a28bd7c30cd9af66b7b90b4a","name":"Michelle Grattan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/509d9dc65145ffc75015af5d9f0e778c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/509d9dc65145ffc75015af5d9f0e778c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michelle Grattan"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/michelle-grattan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49717"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49733,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49717\/revisions\/49733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}