Its time to have a rant about China!

Traitor: a) One who betrays anothers trust or is false in an obligation or duty, b) one who commits treason

In 1999 Jenny Shipley (then PM of NZ and now currently going through the courts for not doing due financial diligence as a Director of Mainzeal before it went into liquidation) parked some buses in front of a group of protesters in Christchurch so that they would not be visible to then Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

It was an odious moment in New Zealand history and one which set in motion a series of events which culminated in the recent decision by our current government to not allow Chinese telecommunication Company Huawei to bid for building New Zealand's 5G network.

Because for the last two decades, since Shipley decided that a bunch of Kiwis, lawfully protesting the Chinese occupation of Tibet, should be put second to possibly offending the Mr Zemin; New Zealand has been licking the boots of China.

Both National and Labour governments since that date have repeatedly prioritized China over ordinary Kiwis (and while National is the worst culprit its was under as Labour government in 2007 that a reporter was evicted from a Beehive event because the Chinese delegation objected to their presence) and now we find ourselves with one of the two major political parties (National) little more than a hollowed out front for Chinese interests, with Chinese spies in parliament and all because we want to sell our milk there.

Well, its like Heather du-Plessis-Allan says, the time has come to pick a side except that du-Plessis-Allan is a naive dupe if she thinks that siding with China is the smart option because: Donald Trump.

How so?

Let us count the ways.

First China is not a democracy, not even close, its a one party state lead by a god emperor for life whose word is enshrined at the same level as mass murderer Mao-Tse Tung and where human rights, free speech and all that good stuff that we like to have in an open and free society is not available in any way shape and form where any attempt to ask for democracy is crushed with brutal force (like Tiananmen Square in 1989) or suppressed and smothered (like the 2014 Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong); where places like Xinjiang and Tibet are held by force against the will of the general populace; a country which has built the great firewall (to censor the internet from anything which would embarrasses the Chinese government) and co-opted Google to build secret project, called Dragonfly (a search engine which, like the great firewall, censored search results to the Chinese governments liking).

Then there are things like its actions in the South China sea and its general history under communist rule, things which include the great leap forward (an insane, state sponsored economic program which saw millions die from famine) and the cultural revolution (a paranoid orgy of blood-letting and murder which saw millions persecuted and over a million killed).

And did I forget to mention its corruption and environmental issues where the country is toxic to your health and your wallet.

In short the Chinese government is not a friend of New Zealand, it is in fact the enemy, plain and simple.

There is nothing wrong with the people or the culture (and having lived and worked there and I like both) but the government of China and the Chinese Communist party is hostile to you as a citizen, to New Zealand as a free democratic nation and to to anything and anyone which gets in their way.

So explain to me again, why we are puckering up and smooching Chinese backside to get our dairy products on Chinese store shelves when its clear that Aotearoa is now the meat in an increasingly hostile China vs US sandwich?

Some people say that we can sail a middle course, we can be a neutral party in all of this but such statements are people who would happily oppose places like North Korea or Saudi Arabia or people like Donald Trump yet feel its ok to bend over and spread for China. There is nothing in recent Chinese history which shows that the Chinese Government will do anything less than undermine everything we believe in and then some.

I say no way.

New Zealand's culture and heritage (both Maori and Pakeha) have little in common with the designs and interests of the power elite in China and a lot with the value systems and ideals of both the US and the free-world in general. We would not tolerate the things China does in NZ yet we are willing to go silent because of Chinese money?

Such a path undermines the very things we hold dear in NZ.

So if siding with the US and the Five Eyes gets us taken off the Chinese Christmas Card list then so be it, it was long over due that we put some eggs in other baskets anyway.

 And if you think the US and its actions in Iraq/Afghanistan and at home even compare with whats going and gone on in China then I have a bridge for sale because this is not a better the devil you know argument but one of fundamental differences.

The fact that National has pent the last nine years facilitating China to the extent of allowing Chinese intelligence operatives in government and is more than willing to sell slots in the party to Chinese interests is plenty for them to be called traitors and to have a long hard look at their suitability as being part of the political system in NZ because if we tolerate spies and seats for sale we might as well just give up now.

I am thankful, very thankful in fact, that I live in a country where I can blog about such things because if I lived in China the though police would be kicking in my door right now.

But its important to keep in mind that this is not some call to start an anti-Chinese jihad because, as I said before, this is not about the people or the culture of China but a political system and structure which is antithetical to our own politics and way of life. We should not fear or hate someone just because they are from China or are Chinese but if they happen to be card carrying members of the Chinese Communist party (ie Jin Yang) then they should be refused outright.

Ever since Jenny Shipley parked those buses the day was coming where the cognitive and ethical dissonance of our doing business in China and our own security (both physical, political and spiritual) would finally be so obvious that they could not just be talked away or ignored; and today is that day.

And there is no easy option out of this, we cant manage China or its expectations or designs with good old Kiwi diplomacy because whether we like it or not conflict between China and the US is coming, maybe not war but the history of great powers is one of conflict at the top (although it often does end up as war), or for the top of the pile and who would you rather see sitting there?

For the politically simple, the mantra would be "neither" because Donald Trump is obviously just as bad as Xi Jinping but that is just rubbish as while US democracy is suffering at the moment, its still functional enough that Trump will be voted out of office in three or seven years and as flawed as democracy is its infinitely better to what the Chinese Communist Party has planned for you.

New Zealand needs to wean itself off doing business in China if the cost of such business is forfeiture of our own political system and values and we need to get China out of NZ politics or its not NZ politics its Chinese politics.

And the kicker for all this is a Chinese telco banned from trying to do business in NZ because its a security risk.

I will be the first to admit that there is not much public evidence for the actual threat but when our own intelligence agencies are trying to get back-doors built into our communication systems why in gods name would we trust anything from a business which has direct links to the Chinese Government.

If you live in NZ and believe in the political and social system we have then what the Chinese Government represents (specially with its actions in NZ) is the direct opposite of those things and you should oppose it with great zeal because if you don't you wont always have that option.

Finally, you can still support National and not be happy with what Simon Bridges & Co (specially Judith Collins and Jin Yang but so many others as well) are doing with regards to pandering to Chinese interests but you might just want to be a bit more critical about National and its behavior and not just be down with Simon because you cant stand Labour and Jacinda, lest you find yourself on holiday in Cambodia.

Vootie!