China debate borrows language from the Cold War
He outlined why despite the emphasis on the newness of the strategic circumstances Australia faces 鈥� and they are indeed new and troubling 鈥� many arguments are clothed in the rhetoric of the 1890s and the 1960s.
鈥淎s the Australia-China relationship continues to deteriorate, it becomes more imperative to understand why it plumbs the depths it has but also how Australia might think afresh about its role in a new strategic order. We know China has changed 鈥� that is not disputed. It is also time for a searing examination of why successive governments have adopted a stance of being the leader of the pack in 鈥榩ushing back鈥� against China, and what factors may be driving that stance," Professor Curran 蝉补颈诲.听
Professor Curran from the Department of History makes two key points:聽
- the language used by some commentators in describing China often borrows heavily from the 19th Century and,
- 聽the Cold War era and Australia鈥檚 role in the new world order聽has changed.听
Language in describing China
鈥淪o many of the paradigms and rhetoric of the late 19th century and the Cold War - especially those relating to 鈥榠nvasion鈥�, 鈥榯hreat鈥�, 鈥榮ubversion鈥� and 鈥榗ontainment鈥� - have once again been resurrected and deployed in the domestic political and foreign policy debate,鈥� Professor Curran said. 聽
鈥淭he Prime Minister has explicitly rejected these frameworks, but their prevalence in the wider debate has cramped the space in which political leaders can attempt to achieve something of an equilibrium in Australia-China policy. This gives the debate a simplistic good versus evil narrative and imposing a poisonous fault line between the advocates of engagement and the acolytes of aggression. And it has led to the brazen, offensive questioning of the loyalties of Australians of Chinese background, and others.鈥澛�
Australia鈥檚 role in the new world order
鈥淭his era is indeed totally unlike anything Australia has faced in its history. Australia has in the past had to undergo a fundamental rethink of its position in the world. But at each stage we did so with a great and powerful friend placing a comforting paw on the shoulder,鈥� Professor Curran 蝉补颈诲.听聽
鈥淣ow as we find ourselves closer to the centre of these new geopolitical forces, and with doubts about the growing gap between American resolve and capability in Asia, we must face up to the hard thinking of what that new order, already taking shape, might look like and what our role will be.鈥澛�
Australia鈥檚 recent position on issues with China聽
Professor Curran described Australia鈥檚 recent outspoken views on issues with China, including Huawei鈥檚 5G network, the foreign interference legislation and the inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 as 鈥減ositioning Australia at the vanguard of a wider 鈥榩ushback鈥� against China鈥�.
In his address, he questions 鈥渨hy impulse and emotion have at times been allowed to override a strong Australian tradition of pragmatic, reason-based diplomacy鈥�.听
He said our current relationship with China has 鈥渂ecome captive not only to domestic politics, but also to the myopic vision of immediate experience and the uncritical mythologies by which events in the present are understood鈥�.听
鈥淭he China threat narrative emphasises a sense of sometimes feverish alarm over what it sees as Beijing鈥檚 capacity to gradually erode the democratic foundations of Australia, thus rendering the nation hopelessly weak in the face of China鈥檚 growing economic and strategic weight, a predicament reminiscent of the invasion scare novel literature of the late 19th century and the lurid imagery of the height of the Cold War. This depiction betrays a rather lamentable lack of faith in the resilience and robustness of Australia鈥檚 democratic institutions,鈥� Professor Curran 蝉补颈诲.听聽
You can read his speech in full here.听