NZ can’t ignore China’s latest human rights crackdown 

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
85
1615

The audacity of China arresting journalists who have been critical of their Covid response while arresting Hong Kong activists is appalling!

Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown

Prosecution of 10 Hong Kongers detained in mainland China after allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan also began on Monday

Add this latest crack down to the long list of human rights abuses by China…

  • Current Hong Kong crack down.
  • Harvesting body organs from executed political dissidents.
  • Uyghur gulags.
  • Tibetan oppression.
  • South China Sea encroachment.
  • Corrupt and punitive judicial system.

This all happening at a time when China is trying to pick fights with Australia.

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China’s Wolf Diplomacy to whip up nationalistic fervour is masking a fear of internal dissent.

This crackdown on critical voices coincides with the take down of Alibaba’s Jack Ma.

This is a country preparing for something.

Expect China to violently take Hong Kong, sabre rattle over Taiwan and threaten anyone in the West who says otherwise to send a domestic and international message of brutal strength.

The question is, what does NZ do?

While America is our Political Master, China is our Economic Overlord.

We must urgently see economic decoupling from China as a national security issue.

To date NZ has managed to keep out of any direct confrontation with China because China bought the National Party and the National Party did everything in their decade of power to bend over backwards to China.

Key put all our cows in one Beijing paddock off the back of Helen’s free trade deal, and we’ve been trapped ever since.

The fact there was an alleged Chinese spy inside the National Party caucus for a decade highlights how compromised National had become.

With their investment in National wasted, soft power turns to hard force very quickly.

China warns it will ‘poke the eyes’ of NZ and allies.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said China’s statement it would “poke the eyes” of anyone who interferes in its sovereignty was not “language we would use”.

China could ‘poke out our eyes’ in 3 ways.

Economically – They could strangle off exports and hurt the economy.

Militarily – They could shoot down an American satellite launched by RocketLabs from a submarine off the East Coast.

Domestically – We know Chinese newspaper editors in NZ all take their editorial stance directly from the Chinese Government and calling for mass demonstrations against the Government for whatever perceived insult would cause enormous upheaval that could easily spill into something ugly.

NZ-Asians face the most overt racism in NZ, there is a huge tension beneath the mild surface of NZ society, and we aren’t prepared if it ruptures from geopolitical tensions.

The naked truth is that Chinese aggression may spill into the South Pacific early in 2021 and we won’t have the luxury of sitting on the fence post.

NZ is going to be forced to take sides.

Are we ready for that debate?

 

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85 COMMENTS

  1. They don’t need to take Hong Kong, they already have it.
    Agree about most of the rest but you missed Labours “free” trade agreement which was what set the scene for their and the Nats continuing sell out.

  2. NZ can’t ignore China’s latest human rights crackdown – yep – NZ government will and have – someone’s polluting private $$$ is more important than human lives.

  3. The Chinese are copying exactly what putin and the KGB did to take back russia after the wall came down. While everyone is watching china russia has been slowly corrupting the whole damn world.

    Read this book ask your local library to get it.
    “Putin how the kgb took back russia and then took on the west”
    Author Christine Belton
    THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ published in 2020 .

    When the panama papers were exposed a large chunk of them were russian money in NZ TRUST FUNDS. Any business doing business in russia if it turns over more than $50 million has to pay a kick back to the Russian govt which then lands up in Putins and his cronies pockets to use for any project they choose to disrupt the west.

    • What a load of excrement. After the wall came down there was a concerted campaign by Clinton and others to rape Russia. They broke an agreement with Gorbachov that NATO would not move further Eastwards, a growing encroachment that has resulted in the Ukraine now becoming a failed state governed by idiots and Nazi’s. The drunkard Yeltsen was played by Clinton to enable American corporates to steal Russia’s resources, as they had done in Yugoslavia. He eventually lost power and Putin became leader. He set about retrieving the wealth of Russia back from the oligarchs that had grabbed it in the free for all, encouraged by the west following the breakup of the USSR. Some oligarchs reached agreement with Putin’s Government and Russia regained control of much of its natural resources. Some did not and are now UK residents who cannot return. The rapacious city of London welcomed them and their ill-gotten gains with open arms and they are now the source of much anti Putin propaganda that you are obviously an avid reader of Geoff.
      The Panama papers with regard to Putin were a non-event, much to the disappointment of the anti-Russian crowd.
      https://thesaker.is/uncle-shmuel-points-fingers-aka-panama-papers/

      As The USA moves towards its destiny as a failed state similar to the USSR we are going to see more and more moves by them to deny the upward movement of China and Russia toowards a new multi-polar world that we should all welcome. In the USA wealth inequality is becoming more and more extreme. The people are getting restless. There are more Black Americans incarcerated in mostly private prisons, where they work for a pittance than there were slaves preceding emancipation. Unlike the story told in the MSM it is clear to me an many others that Trump was cheated out of the election and the chickens will come home to roost with large swathes of the population feeling disenfranchised and disillusioned. (This is in no way an endorsement of Trump but he has been unable to pursue the policies he was elected for because of the undermining of his government by Obama the FBI the CIA the DOJ the mainstream media and the social media.) These are facts that many Americans are aware. Does it not seem strange to you that the NZ media have not let a day go by, since his election, without disparaging Trump in some way. That should be a heads up that there is a concerted propaganda campaign at work.
      I don’t know where Martyn gets his ideas about China from but here’s a few alternative views.
      American “Pro-Democracy” organizations such as NED have been actively working to destabilize Hong Kong.
      China exercised great restraint for months with the protests but the covert western operatives never give up so in the end they had to crack down.
      The western intelligence agencies finance and encourage Terrorists in the Uighur regions of China. They did this in Russia too ( remember the Chechen uprising, bought to a peaceful resolution by Putin) and there is much distorted reporting regarding the concentration camps which are actually re-skilling people to participate
      in China’s expanding economy.
      While I agree care is needed in relationships with China I think this applies to all countries. The recent trade deal with Asean countries and China is far better than the now dead TPP that excluded China and opened NZ up to the depredations of the US Banks. The Vampire Squid and so on. China wants to trade not establish an empire. That is the m.o. of the USA and before them the UK.
      Regardless of my words or yours I think we are moving to a multi-polar world. China will overtake the USA in economic size, they are already bypassing the petro-dollar, the belt and Road initiative will transform the world. The Russians have already exceeded them in weaponry and Military capability. All the USA can do is create irritations for its rivals unless in desperation they do something catastrophic for themselves and the world.
      Chinese aggression in the South Pacific?
      Really…..https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/12/20/todays-china-espionage-scandals-revive-the-gouzenko-hoax-that-unleashed-the-cold-war/

      • Oh the chechen terrorist attacks on russian soil were actually instigated by Putin and his cronies. That includes the beslan school attack. As for Nz not having panama tax haven accounts we did John Key set it up so people could do so, there were plenty down here in NZ, it just never made the headlines.

        • Geoff Lye: “Oh the chechen terrorist attacks on russian soil were actually instigated by Putin and his cronies. That includes the beslan school attack.”

          Hahahaha….bollocks! There’s no changing the minds of Russophobes, is there? Don’t believe that nonsense: look at the provenance of who makes such assertions.

          “As for Nz not having panama tax haven accounts….”

          I certainly haven’t claimed that. Of course there were – and are – trust funds in NZ. But you claimed that there was a lot of Russian money in the NZ funds. There wasn’t: I followed this story very closely at the time. That isn’t to say that there was none: just not much.

          And you can bet your boots that the usual suspects would’ve screamed about it, had there been anything to scream about. Much to their disappointment, there wasn’t.

          It puzzles me that you’d want to believe any of that Russophobia rubbish. What on earth is the point of it?

    • Geoff Lye: “….exactly what putin and the KGB did to take back russia after the wall came down.”

      The author to whom you refer clearly doesn’t know her historical arse from her elbow. By the sounds of it, this is just another example of Russophobia. I wonder at your believing any of it.

      The KGB no longer exists: it was disestablished in 1991. I assume that you’re referring to the Berlin Wall: at that stage, Putin was a KGB operative in the GDR. Nowhere near the Kremlin. He returned to St Petersburg in 1991, working for the Mayor’s office, I think. He didn’t move to Moscow till about 1996, wasn’t elected president until the end of 1999, after a stint as acting president.

      “Read this book ask your local library to get it.
      “Putin how the kgb took back russia and then took on the west”
      Author Christine Belton
      THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ published in 2020 .”

      Everyone should save their time and money. You won’t find out anything useful by reading Russophobia of this sort.

      “When the panama papers were exposed a large chunk of them were russian money in NZ TRUST FUNDS.”

      Not in NZ trust funds. I followed that story closely at the time. There weren’t a lot of Russians involved. Though Poroshenko’s name cropped up a few times. Most of those involved were central and south Americans, as I recall. A few Europeans, too, as one would expect. The wealthy move their money around the world, so as to avoid tax. Well: fancy that. There are wealthy Russians: no surprises that they were doing this sort of thing.

      “Any business doing business in russia if it turns over more than $50 million has to pay a kick back to the Russian govt which then lands up in Putins and his cronies pockets to use for any project they choose to disrupt the west.”

      When you say “kickback”, I think that you mean “tax”. Many oligarchs fled Russia in the early noughties, because that mean, nasty Putin actually insisted that they pay tax, and put them before the courts if they weren’t paying their share. When that old lush Yeltsin was president, he allowed the oligarchs and sundry western neoliberals to steal vast chunks of Russian wealth and assets; Putin put a stop to it. The Yanks have hated him, ever since they figured out what he was doing.

      Disrupting the west? If you wish to make claims of this sort, it’s really important that you provide evidence.

      • The book my friend is filled with all the russian participants interviews and statements from public records themselves, who took part or were taken down and Jailed by Putin and his KGB mates. So call it Russophobia if you like, but you can’t beat the words of the actual people who enabled it to happen. So before firing off a rebuke read the book. It took the author over 10 years to write and was published in the middle of this year. The world is flooded with dirty Russian money. Even NZ had millions in a panama papers trust fund here in NZ. Call it rubbish all you like but you cannot deny the words of the russian officials themselves that enabled it to happen.

      • As I said read the book.
        Like you I knew exactly what you said above but as always there is more to the story. So as I said read the book then come back and say what you have said and say we do not have to fear dirty Russian money . Yes the KGB as a name no longer exists but the people in the FSB are the same people who were in the KGB and are using the same modus operandi to manipulate the west . So My point is we need to fear the USA CHINA AND RUSSIA.
        READ THE BOOK. IT IS A TOTAL EYE OPENER.

  4. This government do not care much about those at the bottom of the heap in this country let alone make a fuss about those in China or Palestine or America. They are no different to the National government before them . Our political masters understand we are a small nation of 5 million with a voice far bigger than our size but one that is silent on contentious views so as not to upset anyone especially those we trade with .

  5. This government do not care much about those at the bottom of the heap in this country let alone make a fuss about those in China or Palestine or America. They are no different to the National government before them . Our political masters understand we are a small nation of 5 million with a voice far bigger than our size but one that is silent on contentious views so as not to upset anyone especially those we trade with .

  7. So how is that worse than the UK/US treatment of Julian Assange?
    Honest journalism is a high risk occupation.ACC levies should be through the roof.
    If we have to pick sides between China and US we have no moral courage. If either of them decide to attack us militarily we have no defence and neither of them will provide it if their own arse is on the line and the only circumstance where either of them would want to attack us is if we have taken sides.
    We should take control of our economy as both of these powers take control of their own and remain independent politically. China will accept that more easily than would the US.
    We took an independent stance with our nuclear free policy. We should continue with that stance.
    It will be respected by China if not the US.
    The US is the aggressor politically and militarily all over the world. I don’t want any part of it.
    D J S

    • Hear hear David. I find it difficult to reply as calmly as you do to people who swallow the Trump inspired lies about China. Trump always knew it would be far easier to sell China as the enemy than Russia and down in this neck of the woods he was definitely right

    • Spot on DJS.
      History tells us a declining Empire is more dangerous than a rising one. NZers are extremely ignorant when it comes to the machinations of the Brit/ USA Empire.

    • David Stone: “So how is that worse than the UK/US treatment of Julian Assange?”

      Amen to that. And I also agree with all of the rest of your comment.

      This country ought to take an independent political stance with regard to all other polities, most especially the so-called major powers. We wish to trade with other countries: maintaining an independent stance allows us to do that. We must stay out of other countries’ affairs. Even assuming that we actually have an accurate handle on what’s happening. With regard to China, I’d argue that we don’t.

      “The US is the aggressor politically and militarily all over the world. I don’t want any part of it.”

      Hear hear!

  8. All while china is boasting it will overtake the US to become the biggest economy globally be 2025, five years than they previously forecasted, all on the back of buying of the global assets in other countries, and building a massive stockpile of raw materials to create a control of materials worldwide in a cleverly conspired massive monopoly Ponzi scheme to control the increased cost of manufactured products.

    We globally in all countries clearly need to stop selling our raw products to China or face Chinas dominance globally that will bankrupt the world economy.

    • Actually it’s all the unproductive/counter productive money-printing going on in America that will ‘bankrupt the world economy’.

      US finatialisation has never been so high, and the actual economy never been so low.

  9. ” the only circumstance where either of them would want to attack us is if we have taken sides”. This is wishful thinking at best… The reality is NZ, just like the islands in the pacific in the 1940’s will be overrun by one side, or the other, purely as a result of tactical considerations… When two of the most powerful armed forces set to fighting, who cares what side we were on? Revenge for “disloyalty” happens after the war is won… and the spoils are due.. Collateral damage is the term we may have to get used to, as that’s what we will be…

  10. China has a long history of arresting and disappearing human rights activists, lawyers and citizen journalists over the Christmas period while the West is preoccupied and isn’t watching. This year is no different.

    Besides ridding the Chinese Communist Party of any pesky and irritating people brave enough to hold a mirror up to its tyrannical rule, there is always a need for more slave labour to supply the gulags and concentration camps. These unfortunate individuals also make up a useful live organ bank should a CCP cadre need a new liver, kidney or heart, or a pair of corneas.

    But it’s all fine as long as they continue to buy New Zealand’s dirty dairy and slave-labour dependent horticultural products. As long as those export dollars keep rolling in, we’ll be happy to keep saying, “Move along, nothing to see here.”

  11. The American tele, had some past General controller of what distruction arsenal they have, saying possible war with China, is on the playing board, what rational human being would dare, no matter their political thought , humanity would be the care, yes sounds weird lets get the cops the state to beat up them protesters barricading, but full blown no survive of our humanity, not on the table, only one that should be our birth breath social care.

      • The point about the epoch times video is that due to their Christian fundamentalist ideology they will be attempting to portray Zhand Zhan in a positive light. However, even then it is completely obvious how completely she embodies the same individual freedom ideas of Billy TK and the idea that even in a pandemic a person has the right to mix freely with whoever. And the msm expects us to get all righteous but never mind Julian Assange rotting in a UK jail

      • The point of the epoch times video is that being a fundamentalist Christian site it is trying to portray Zhang Zhan in a positive light. But she still comes across as the type that believes that in a pandemic the indivual still has the right to associate freely. We have seen these types in NZ and been slightly taken aback. Now the msm is trying to get us excited by her arrest?! A brave fearless reporter of the truth! Never mind the true hero Julian Assnge rotting in a UK jail!

  14. We are too afraid we will offend the Red Tyrants, so we will indeed be ignoring them and waiting for the dam (Three Gorges) to collapse and give us peace by shoddy construction.

    • The three Gorges Dams have been thoroughly tested and held well under recent record floods in spite of the US propaganda decrying them.

  15. Russia, China, Muslim world will be sad that Trump will be “Trumped” on Jan 20th. They have seen the USA go backwards and be less relevant in the world in the last 4 years and hoped for more. Maybe they may become more active when Biden becomes President. I think China has more empathy with NZ than USA. The USA is a sad and violent society – we get enough bad habits from them.

  16. Good ol’ Mark
    ‘The US was built on slavery and genocide. Whereas China has never committed genocide against any particular indigenous group, but rather encouraged their cultures and folkways to flourish to a degree unimaginable under Anglo Saxon colonisation.’
    ‘Sha Yang! Xiao mei Hu!’ kill foreigners! exterminate the non-Han! was the call during the cultural Revolution and before in Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Yunnan and Sichuan. It accompanied the smashing of temples and massacre of non-han groups like yourself( I have spoken to the survivors) by little red guards like yourself. Like yourself they were anxious to impress the Party leadership.
    Do you get many invites from the Chinese embassy Mark? Keep Trying.
    My wife says Hi.

  25. I think the ‘dream time’ facilitated by the looting and polluting of the land and the printing of unrepayable debt will come to an end in 2021, and we will have far such pressing matters to deal with in NZ few people will even think about what is or isn’t happening in China.

    For what it’s worth, plenty of westerners have taken whatever they could from China, even if it was only a meal at a fancy restaurant or a sponsored trip. But for many a lot more.

    ‘All Major Western Media Outlets Take “Private Dinners”, “Sponsored Trips” From Chinese Communist Propaganda Front’.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/all-major-western-media-outlets-take-private-dinners-sponsored-trips-chinese-communist

  28. Don’t mention Covid.

    Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown
    Prosecution of 10 Hong Kongers detained in mainland China after allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan also began on Monday
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/wuhan-citizen-journalist-jailed-for-four-years-in-chinas-christmas-crackdown

    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

    For those that think go along with China to avoid war and they will stop, they don’t understand history.
    The above poost-war confessional prose by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals and certain clergy—including, by his own admission, Niemöller himself—following the Nazis’ rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets, group after group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_…

  29. It seems to me the so-called “wolf” diplomacies are just “reactions” to actions perceived as provoking to China. It should be expected that every action will trigger a reaction. No self-respecting sovereign country would allow other countries to step over it without a reaction. The sharp reactions from China are mostly in response to the increasing wolf-like (hawkish) actions from overseas. If all parties return to being more diplomatic in managing our differences, we may see fewer of these tit-for-tat actions.

  31. Your statement that “NZ is going to be forced to take sides” reveals exactly how lip-service the alliance with the other “5 Eyes” has been. “America is NZ’s political master”? By what magical, invisible political mechanism does that work? More like, America is NZ’s cultural master. Even by the time of the Vietnam War, for which the West should collectively hang its head, Kiwis were champion fence-sitters. One day it was, as always, “We’re doing our bit, in fact more than our bit, per capita.” The next day it was, “It’s only a tiny bit, a few Howitzers — and America made us do it!”

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