For the Chinese Ambassador to agree to a long form uncut interview with Q+A is testament to the journalistic standing of Jack Tame.
He’s one of the best in the game because he’s intelligent and plays with a devastatingly straight bat.
If you are getting nailed by Jack, that’s on you, not Jack.
Gaining a one on one interview with Wang Xiaolong is a journalistic coup.
It is essential that we keep communication channels open with China, especially in the wake of the American Military Industrial complex visiting us and trying to sucker us into a nuke deal with them.
Our economy is tied to China and while I for one argue an immediate decoupling is important geopolitically, environmentally and sustainability wise, we don’t want to needlessly start economic carnage before we are ready to severe those ties.
Xiaolong is well spoken, educated and could articulate the Chinese position in very clear terms. He is an enormous asset to Beijing and it’s important we hear their values specifically.
I fear us getting dragged into a war between America and China, and while I argue we urgently need to boost military spending, I do so from the perspective of genuine independent foreign policy.
We don’t want to be China’s puppet any more than we want to be America’s puppet!
Xiaolong was at pains to state China’s recent aggression is driven by America’s attempt at encroachment.
While I am no defender of Chinese foreign policy, domestic policy or their human rights abuses – their Wolf Diplomacy isn’t driven by a thirst for empire or expansion, it’s a reactive defensiveness.
Xiaolong is trying to tell us that China isn’t a direct military threat to us or its neighbours.
Such assurances mean little however if you are the mouse and they are the giant.
The dragon is much bigger than the Taniwha and could crush us by accident.
This is an important interview, we need to hear directly from China more so that American propaganda doesn’t trick us into an avoidable conflict.
Jack asked some very direct questions about the ongoing abuses to the Uyghurs. He is very clear that China’s Embassy has no direct role in intimidating whistleblowers in NZ, which is likely (there are plenty of Party members who would do that as a hobby in their spare time).
He pushes back on the abuses allegations against the Uyghurs. His comments suggest the issue is a power play between Islam and the People’s Communist Party. Within that lens, nothing is allowed to challenge the power of the Party.
He dances on coals trying to defend the human rights abuses, which aren’t all that convincing. The Party has ruthlessly crushed dissent and the abuses against the Uyghurs do amount to a cultural genocide, Xiaolong is good but he can’t white wash China’s Great Wall of Human Rights Abuses.
China’s message is clear, if we are prepared to turn a blind eye to their vast abuse of domestic human rights, they aren’t a threat to us internationally and we can trade economically with them.
It’s like America’s offer minus the wars and CIA wet team paramilitary death squads.
This is public broadcasting at its best, well done TVNZ for having the courage to run a long form interview like this.
Next on are the far right Qanon antivaxx lunatics and their political aspirations to use conspiracy theories to get elected.
These political circus freaks gaining democratic representation would be like putting a book burner in charge of a library or making a flat earther the Professor of Geography.
The fact so many of these fringe Alt Right conspiracy theorists are hiding their allegiance to run in local politics is an indictment that they know their madness is utterly rejected by the majority.
The Alt Right are fishing in huge electoral pools made deeper by Labour’s inability to make any real progress on transformational change.
The chance these political ferals will enter politics and cross 5% can not be ruled out this election, the polarisation is so extreme and the unique universal experience of Covid has made everyone remember they are a citizen and not a consumer.
We can expect this rupturing of the political spectrum with these lunatics crossing 5%, NZ First crossing 5%, TOP winning Ilam and bringing in party vote plus the Māori Party gaining a much larger party vote on top of possible Independents like Dr Sharma winning electorates.
In this scenario, ACT cannibalise Nationals vote, the Greens limp home and Labour hit mid 30s.
2023 is going to be the most polarised in NZs history.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
With the fake Dr PM Ardern sending another 120 troops to the UK to ‘train’ mercenaries to fight in the Ukraine. When is she going to tell us all that she has decided in another kangaroo court that we are at war with Russia?
The Uk have banned their soldiers from fighting in the Ukraine war so who are the NZ soldiers training again??
Afghanistan ‘Creep’ all over again! Actions speak louder ay?
Is NZ’s $37b of trade with China going to be put at risk?
the uk have not banned troops from ukraine as a member of nato they can’t send troops there.
what I find interesting is the cries of nato is collapsing have died down on the right….juzzz sayin
Well that Kosovo, Serbia and now Montenegro all fucked. Montenegro has sacked their PM and Serbia and Kosovo are about to light up the Balkans again.
Who knows what will happen next? A re-run of 1992 or 1996 or 98?
Who is behind all of this (again) I wonder? NATO I fuckn bet.
Yes Denny that’s a good point – it does look reminiscent of Afghanistan.
Do everything to destroy the fascist Putler.
so you’re joining up on monday are you dilema?
They are training Ukrainians. Most recently they were training a Ukrainian Artillery regiment on the 105mm gun.
The new group with be mostly training Ukrainian soldiers in infantry tactics and combined arms operations. Especially as the Ukraine Army moves away from traditional Soviet doctrine to western military doctrine.
Training Ukrainian soldiers outside Ukraine helps the Ukrainians a great deal. It releases a large number of professional Ukrainian soldiers from training to being deployed.
So, no, not mercenaries.
Mean while, at the UN, there’s a pot of water boiling away to nothing.
Explain this metaphor please, Uncle Sam?
UN Charter Number One – Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.
The performance of Western signatories to The UN todate is inconsistent at the first instance.
They can’t even boil water let alone master finance.
The UN is not supposed to increase the likelihood of another World War through its funding arrangements they’re supposed to reduce it.
No one in the world has done more to reduce poverty, than China.
America drops bombs, China does business.
Y’all Jordan Peterson fandom have been banging on about how so awful communism is it just grates on you that communist China has outperformed western democracies on every metric you just can’t accept.
This fucken Jordan Peterson slave mentality that there’s an us vs them problem is not my issue. That’s a you issue.
You got to get rid of the slave mind that it’s race or religion or poor vs rich. I’m not rich even though I have wealth an assets. Again John Key is not rich even though he has wealth an assets. It’s not a political or even economic problem. It’s not even a Labour vs National problem. It’s not an Aloha Luxon problem. It’s not a Jacinda problem or what the fuck ever.
If you’re not following it’s not an us problem, it’s a you problem.
If you’re still not following do you think billionaires get together to discuss race issues or inequality issues or what the fuck ever issue??? The answer is NO!!! All they’re doing is figuring out how to fuck everyone in the ass.
I know Elon is trying but come on sport 5 electric semi trucks a week with reduced motors from 3 to 2 moters ain’t going to cut it. He just doesn’t have the resources or authority, only the State does.
It may not be a conventional world war but Climate Change is an everyone problem.
and mr peterson is a professor of what? remind me? that’s right psychology, yup he’s no more qualified than the average TDB poster on matters outside his own fake discipline—-check out repeatability of psychological experiments…it’s hilarious that it’s taken seriously..though I digress
“is an indictment that they know their madness is utterly rejected by the majority.”
You mean like Labour, He Puapua and co-governance…
Yes MickeyBoyle that’s what’s driving polarisation in NZ.
In 5 years we have become the most divided in our history and it’s getting worse.
Some are describing those that don’t agree with them as feral lunatics suggesting they shouldn’t be allowed to stand for for Government.
Democracy is under threat on many fronts in New Zealand.
The PRC dictatorship wants lebensraum in NZ for its ethnic Han tyranny.
castro and what exact percentage of chinese would be moved to NZ under their lebensraum plan….and that lebensraum would effect chinese population figures how…..just because you know a german word doesn’t mean your qualified to use it…if you want to say ‘economic dominance’ or ‘control’ just say that falling down by trying to be ‘fancy’ is an embarrassment
Sadly true
And Australia. It has really lovely beaches.
Hilarious. You’re an American-lover pretending to be a New Zealander, and you’re telling us CHINA is an ethnic tyranny.
Let me know when New Zealand allows Maori to genuinely conduct business with the state and educate their children entirely in Maori, let alone tens of ethnic minorities.
“His comments suggest the issue is a power play between Islam and the People’s Communist Party.”
Xinjiang is a key part of China’s energy pipeline infrastructure. Whatever the ideological mobilizing ploy, ensuring control of resources for industry, agriculture, transportation and keeping the lights on are likely a more proximate cause.
“If you are getting nailed by Jack, that’s on you, not Jack.”
Ba Ha ! You can’t get more double entendre-ish than that.
Not one of today’s big brave flaky truth seeking journalists would dare approach the monster in the room that is the dawn of rogernomics though. They’d all run like frightened rabbits at the sight of roger and his cadre of corrupt Kiwi traitors and that, of course, leads me to thinking that all the above gibberish is a show for the dopy mopes who were left in the trail of that destruction. The destruction of AO/NZ and all that we paid our taxes for in good faith to narcissistic sociopaths who created about themselves a fire wall of lies of impenetrability and largely enabled by useless, cowardly journalists to protect, report on and inform. I remember those times which haunt us to this day. I remember arse kissing media lap poodles getting cushy jobs on the gravy train while the rebels were thrown overboard.
We must now have deep, meaningful, misty eyed conversations with the dodgy fucking Chinese because they’re all we have left after our fancy, greedy, equally dodgy fuckers rooted our traditional trading partners over until they were forced to dump our greedy arses. Aye Boys?
I know jack tame’s full of shit ( With pockets full of money. ) because he’s not reported on our farmers being on strike pending re establishing trading relations with the UK, Europe and the USA.
Instead, we’ll get a sticky, sweaty little deal to export milk etc to China so more chemical laden cow shit and piss in our waterways. As you say @ MB, between bouts of smashing farmers and bashing cows “ Our economy is tied to China”
( I thought our economy was tied more to tourism. )
His Evilness, Emperor Xi, has a grand vision for a new world order . And it looks suspiciously similar to the inside of a concentration camp.
“The Party has ruthlessly crushed dissent and the abuses against the Uyghurs do amount to a cultural genocide”
What is ‘cultural genocide’? Is it the elimination of feudal superstitions that hold back scientific and industrial progress?
If that is the case all the people living in China have been subjected to ‘cultural genocide’, particularly the Han Chinese. The Uighurs were pretty much left alone culturally until the past 10 years and then it was decided the same should perhaps apply to them as well, particularly given the 10,000 to 20,000 Uighurs involved with ISIS and other radical Islamic groups.
https://jamestown.org/program/returning-uighur-fighters-and-chinas-national-security-dilemma/
Go to Hong Kong and Taiwan and you see vast evidence of Han Chinese cultural and religious practices.
Go to mainland China and these have disappeared.
The Buddhist shrines and temples set up in NZ by immigrants are invariably funded by Hong Kong, South East Asian or Taiwanese people, rarely if any by mainland Chinese. Mainland Chinese on the other hand take like ducks to water to protestant Christianity – which in many ways is analogous to doctrinaire socialism.
“While I am no defender of Chinese foreign policy, domestic policy or their human rights abuses – their Wolf Diplomacy isn’t driven by a thirst for empire or expansion, it’s a reactive defensiveness.”
This is a good point. When Australia and New Zealand have hernias over the mere hypothetical and unlikely possibility of a Chinese military base in the Solomons, thousands of km from both countries, imagine what the Chinese feel about US and Australian warships regularly sailing through the Taiwan straits, and indeed Taiwan itself armed to the teeth by US imperialism. That is close to China than Rotorua is to Auckland.
Right. Because it is progress and science when a Chinese man makes $3.oo an hour for your metal gate to guard you from the feral. Slave away more- after all you think it is ethical to do so…If you ever had a Chinese friend you would no the one child did not stick.
China is a bit stuffed with their one child policy, despite it being lifted a few years ago, they are heading for a population crash — and not many people are trying to get into China, heaps trying to get out.
The Irony is the Uighur until recently has a 3 Child policy. Go figure.
To clarify the one Child policy only applied to the Majority Han Chinese and Ethnic Minorities such as the Uighur were exempt, under the new policy they now fall under the same limits as the Han. Just saying.
According to scholars of the Book of Revelation like Adrian Zenz, this is a campaign of genocide. Truly amazing logic.
Interesting article thank you Martyn.
Also I appreciate Jack Tame and his professionalism.
It may surprise you Martyn, but Muslims, in Xinjiang no less than anywhere else, don’t actually support the CIA-sponsored terrorists of the ‘World Uyghur Congress’ running around bombing people (many also Uyghur Muslims) and stabbing and chopping at random people in railway stations.
Times certainly are changing when the Chinese Ambassador with his posh English accent agreed to do an interview with our Jack Tame. I see this as a good thing whether we agree with him or not. We need to embrace this and keep the communications channels open no matter what. My daughter travel to China and taught English for 6 months, when she returned home she had nothing but good things to say about the Chinese people and their culture. Most importantly they looked after her as she was travelling alone and she still talks about her experiences and what she learnt from them.
Moan all you like about the Chinese but where is our free trade deal from the mighty USA and the EU.