China is Doing What it Does Best … Subverting and Controlling People, By Cliff Reece
China's top diplomat in Australia, the ever-provocative Xiao Qian, has issued a stark warning to Australia that action would be taken if the Port of Darwin 99-year lease was cancelled by the Australian government.
The Port of Darwin's location is of high strategic value and has been controlled by China's Landbridge Group for the past 11 years.
A similar threat was made a few months ago when he stated there would be consequences if Australia or any other nation should seek to interfere in the "reunification" of the island democracy of Taiwan with mainland communist China.
Ambassador Xiao rather ridiculously compared Taiwan to Tasmania, warning that any effort to undermine the longstanding 'One-China' status quo would be met with "devastating results".
Ruining the lives of millions of people in China as well as in Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Macau and within Falun Gong apparently is not enough for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) …… now they are threatening to do the same to Taiwan and many of the Pacific islands – including Australia.
But there is growing resistance – and not just from the 24 million Taiwanese who are being constantly harassed by the CCP.
Former Australian Federal Police officer Paul Johnstone recently returned from the Solomon Island's capital Honiara, where he says locals are unsettled by the CCP presence in their country.
The Solomon Islands, PNG, Vanuatu, and Fiji are all of great importance to the CCP and its future ambitions, he said in an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times highlighting the precarious situation in that region.
And its interest in the Pacific is as a base from which to target Australia and New Zealand as well as deter the USA from remaining committed to regional security.
"The CCP is using the same playbook as the Japanese in World War 2," Johnstone says. "Why did Japan want to take the Solomons? Because it was a strategic spot. It's close to Australia, it's close to Guam, and they can block off shipping routes."
In early 2022, leaked official documents revealed China had signed a "security" deal with the then-Sogavare government of the Solomons that would allow China to station police, troops, weapons, and even naval ships on the islands.
The move was described by some defence experts as China pushing its South China Sea frontier all the way to the South Pacific and Australia.
Since then, China has continued to ramp up its infrastructure spending in the Solomons and influence over the political class.
While the leaders of Pacific Island nations claim that their support of the CCP is reciprocated with aid and investment, Johnstone says ordinary citizens see no benefit.
"China has done a lot of good stuff over there …. good stuff for them, but not for the local people!
"There might be new roads, but most people don't have cars, so it's good for the Chinese businesses and Chinese government officials," he said. "But don't think for one moment they're doing this for the local people."
Solomon Islands' residents also complain that the big infrastructure spending backed by China has little benefit for locals.
"Every single person I spoke to over three days – over 60 people – not one told me they believed that what the CCP was doing in the Solomon Islands was to benefit the local people. I couldn't find anyone to say something positive," Johnstone says.
"The reason is, all these infrastructure projects … they bring in labour from mainland China. Few of the local people get work. They might get a guard position or something like that, but they're kept out of it.
"So, when you talk to the local people, they tell you that there are so many Chinese here. 'Why can't the Australians come back? Why can't the Kiwis come back?"
There is, however, one segment of the local population getting a lot of CCP attention: the young.
"They're setting up a kind of YMCA for the youth so they can bring them in off the streets because they've got no work. They can brainwash them and tell them, 'Hey, this is how good the CCP is!' They bring in the police in their Chinese police uniforms, teaching the local kids self-defence," Johnstone says.
It's a similar view shared by Nick Coyle, a Papua New Guinea-based CEO, who said China's big spend on large visible infrastructure was helping the CCP win the PR battle for hearts and minds.
"There is an ongoing disconnect between the reality of life for most Pacific residents and the way their leaders portray the CCP's presence.
"A large number of locals said to me how much they hate their government."
China continues to rank among the worst human rights offenders.
Under the CCP, the criminal justice system is a "political instrument," according to the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Dissidents can be arbitrarily detained in "black jails" such as psychiatric facilities without formal legal process and be subjected to torture and other mistreatment.
Hong Kong dissidents overseas have had bounties placed on them and passports cancelled, together with harassment, hacks and diplomatic pressure for extradition.
Pacific islanders and others who are falling under the spell of the Chinese Communist Party – and its apparent generosity – need to become fully aware of how the CCP operates.
It would also be worthwhile for them to consider whether they feel secure with Communist China heavily involved in their countries – instead of trusted allies like Australia and New Zealand who pose no threat to them.
And they especially need to listen to people like Steven Mosher, an internationally recognized authority on China who was the first American social scientist allowed to carry out field research in China following a personal request in 1979 to China's Chairman Deng Xiaoping by then US President Jimmy Carter.
The human rights abuse he uncovered in the 'one-child' policy led to him being fired from Stanford University in an effort by them to placate angry Chinese officials.
He has served as a Commissioner of the Commission on Broadcasting to China, and has testified numerous times before US Congress as an expert in human rights.
