Russian Aggression vs China’s Grey Zone vs American Military Industrial Complex
Stakes raised for Chinese Premier’s visit with new allegations of decades of interference
The stakes were already high around the state visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang to New Zealand, the first such visit since 2017.
Now, a new Stuff Circuit documentary — The Long Game, watch above — is set to ramp up tensions further, with revelations that Chinese Communist Party influence and interference operations in New Zealand have been going on for decades, unabated, striking at the heart of our democracy.
No one should be surprised by this Stuff Circuit expose. This excellent journalism by Paula Penfold and Louisa Cleave follows up on the work by Professor Anne-Marie Brady who has detailed the manner in which the Chinese Communist Party exploit, bully and intimidate their diaspora into capitulating with Beijing’s interests.
With as many as 40 000 mandarin only speakers in NZ, they are dependent on Mandarin Newspapers who have a long history of following Communist Party propaganda.
The Communist Party has always bullied and intimidated their diaspora and we need to do more to protect Chinese Kiwis from that type of intimidation.
This new Government’s sudden lurch into the lap of America is going to have an impact on our trading relationship with China and the moment Winston or Judith sign us up to Pillar 2, there will be a sudden move against our trade with China by China.
I don’t sense in China’s 5000 odd year history the sense of expansionist Empire that America represents.
I just can’t see China launching a legitimate invasion of Taiwan proper, although I certainly think they would want a symbolic victory of taking over one of Taiwan’s small islands.
It doesn’t make sense for China to use its military when Greyzone warfare and China’s economic muscle can gain it what it wants without military violence.
That’s not to say China’s authoritarian Communist Regime hasn’t abused their own people with an Orwellian censorship and mass surveillance, but we shouldn’t allow American interests to dictate our relationship with China.
Winston is getting us sucked into this vortex.
Every military analyst argues that bombing the Houthies will only empower the Houthies. We are helping target drone strikes against the Houthie and did so again last month – why are NZ taxpayers paying to bomb the poorest country in the Middle East in a tactic experts argue won’t work?
While this is happening, as of this month right now China has specially embedded police units inside the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga and Kiribati to the many complaints of Americans and Australians.
In Kiribati, the nation’s parliament suspended foreign-born judges that serve the nation’s highest courts in a move that many suspect is Chinese driven.
The Solomon Islands election is still in dispute with the pro Chinese Government yet to be confirmed and Papua New Guinea has seen enormous drug busts that are suspected to be Chinese Government backed Grey Zone actions.
Throughout the Pacific an insidious Chinese influence is replacing the insidious American influence – we are naive to think China is not acting aggressively in the Grey Zone, but why tie ourselves to America if Trump wins in November?
That would be madness!
We must seriously reconsider what our obligations and responsibilities are and they should be the protection of the Realm of NZ.
We should also reject American encroachment into the Cook Islands and Niue as a matter of principle FFS.
We should look to increase our Military spending especially with looming catastrophic climate change requiring civil defence responses.
Pillar 2 shouldn’t be an integration into the American Military Industrial Complex, it should be for the development and manufacture of local made drones specifically used for surveillance and protecting our economic zone and dependencies.
We can not pretend that the planet is stabilising when it is unravelling, the need to project force to defend our neighbourhood and enable civil defence responses is only going to increase, not decrease in the immediate and near future.
Entering a military pact that specifically targets China, our largest economic trading partner, seems pretty fucking stupid and why would we want to enable the next American Military Industrial Complex Profit Campaign?
Part of the latest American War Budget recently passed has earmarked billions for new naval bases throughout the Pacific.
Let’s be very clear.
We will NOT let the Americans have a military naval base here.
Right?
We need to refocus and modernise the intent and purpose of our military while building our own capacity to build and manufacture our own drones for the NZ Military.
Friend to all, enemy to none must still be our diplomatic stance and values, but we need to be able to protect our own home and our own interests and modernising and repurposing our Military for the immediate challenges ahead demands our attention.
Climbing into bed with America to start friction with China shouldn’t be our purpose, neither should we become so economically dependent upon China that we are subservient to them and their Authoritarian regime.
I want a New Zealand that is run by Wellington, not Washington and not Beijing.
‘Friend to all, enemy to none’ – Tell that to a lot of the Chinese-born now living here . .
Regardless whether it’s China or the US that dominates, Orwellian censorship and mass surveillance is the future we will all face.
Some will be surprised to know that here in NZ the new streetlight sitting outside your house has circuitry that allows sensors, microphones and cameras to be attached for surveillance.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/street-smart-street-lights
You are right, I am surprised that such tech is both available and installed to go already. Kinda makes a mockery of the new fangled smkt surveillance stuff that I’ve barely gotten my head around. thus far. Begs the question why, why the need – or the real need – for not only wholesale surveillance of us all, but for forever increasingly sophisticated surveillance of us all also?
My guess, the State is increasingly working for outside, undemocratic, typically big-money interests over the interests of its people, thus it must protect itself from a possible public backlash against this while protecting the interests, it now primarily serves as well. Who knows, but wholesale, forever increasing surveillance over us, is without doubt, not a good sign!
What a splendid stand Bomber. You are making the State Dept updates of Morgan look rediculous.
The Chinese regime is hardly different to any past or existing regime. It rules on behalf of the class that rules. It is a bureaucracy that serves the ruling class, organised in the form of the CPC.
Qualitatively it is no more or less authoritarian that the US, UK or any other so called ‘democracy’ that has a deep state to keep the ruling class in control. High five for the spy five.
The answer to imperialism is anti-imperialism when the working masses rise up and create their own class states, that of the vast majority that works to live not to give the parasites on their backs a living.
https://situationsvacant.blog/2024/06/10/workers-revolution-can-stop-world-war-3/
Well, the so-called CCP is in fact the CPC – the Communist Party of China. This is a small but nonetheless noteworthy distinction because the former is Western-led diction while the latter is proper terminology. Interesting that the Chinese highlighted in this doco use Western rather than Chinese terminology. Better leave this at that….
Now, now. You sound like some kind of Chinese spy who thinks that our media organizations shouldn’t just be putting out idiotic Falun Gong propaganda totally indistinguishable from the ‘Epoch Times’.
I want a New Zealand that is run by local communities, not Beijing, Washington or Wellington. Chinese expats will assimilate when educated with enlightenment values, so whilst they may be slavishly patriotic now, their children will not be. The only reason for Wellington is as agglomeration point for tooling up against advances of the other two. The US Govt. is not our friend and neither is the CCP. New Zealand (and Australia) while I hate to say it, need to get real and develop our own MAD response as a defensive strategy. I don’t think we’re sophisticated enough – any more. Going down the shitter although Covid did show how homogenous we can be, but do we have to wait for an existential threat to get off our collective lazy arses? We’re captured by neo-liberal consumerist nonsense. A couple of weeks of petrol tankers not turning up would have us on our knees.
“ I just can’t see China launching a legitimate invasion of Taiwan proper. . . “
Out of idle curiosity, what’s a legitimate invasion?
As you say HF, who gives any invasion legitimacy? Only the strongest side. Not necessarily the more just side.
It’s so long since Taiwan was part of China, there’d be few ordinary, normal Chinese people who still care.
It’s only loss of face which would drive any invasion and that’s not a just reason.
Taiwan has never stopped being part of China and there are plenty of Chinese people in Taiwan province who travel back and forward (given the already bad and worsening job prospects in the US-occupied zone) who are well aware of the better situation in the free part.
It’s a pity that you are not advising the government with this clear explanation of current events. I get that people don’t trust China & other similar states but jumping into bed with the US, UK, etc as protection would seem to be the quickest way to get a nasty disease going on their past actions. Independence is the way to go although since it suits the born-to-rule types I suspect that our future is to ask how high when the US says jump.