A photo of former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews alongside the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, during a military parade in Beijing raised troubling questions. Earlier, former New South Wales premier Bob Carr sought to pre-emptively justify his possible attendance at the event (although he didn’t in the end) in an opinion piece.
While it is difficult for the Australian government to control the actions of former officials, the photo still raises the question how the two former premiers found themselves in a situation where they were either in a photo or contemplated attending an event with all these known grave violators of human rights. Perhaps it is because the Australian government sends mixed messages about responding to human rights abuses when committed by some governments.
During the Labor party’s last term and throughout this term, the government’s stated approach on China has been to “cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest”. The problems with this approach were obvious as soon as the policy position was first implemented, and they again became blatantly apparent this week.
This approach relegates human rights to something considered important only insofar as it doesn’t get in the way of trade. It indicates that human rights are open to disagreement or, as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has suggested, “points of contention.” But they are not. Promoting human rights is squarely in Australia’s national interest.
Human rights are universal and an essential system of global rules and governance that promote and protect all of our fundamental rights and freedoms. Ring-fencing human rights into a discrete issue that is routinely marginalised is solidly in China’s national interests.
The prime minister and foreign affairs minister have on many occasions condemned human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang without any perceptible impact on Chinese government policy. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain arbitrarily detained as one of the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. In Tibet, the government escalates its forced assimilation of Tibetans.
In Hong Kong, the authorities have dramatically dismantled fundamental freedoms. In the past week, Hong Kong courts concluded the trial of Jimmy Lai, the owner of a popular newspaper who now faces life in prison for publishing a newspaper critical of Beijing. And yet, the Australian government has not taken concrete actions such as imposing targeted sanctions on those responsible for abuses or banned products tainted with Uyghur forced labor – favouring expressions of concern and dismay – that is, “disagreeing where we must”.
This reluctance has consequences. Violations left unchecked embolden the abusers and the long arm of the Chinese government has grown longer. The Chinese government intimidates those who do not follow the Chinese Communist party line in Australia, including in universities among students and professors, and on social media. Hong Kong national police have issued arrest warrants and bounties for four Australian residents and citizens. It is demonstrably clear that ignoring human rights undermines Australia’s national interest.
The Australian government has been unequivocal about its condemnation of the Kremlin. In recent days it imposed new sanctions on Russians implicated in abuses while also meeting with the widow of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Equally, the Australian government has taken a strong position at the United Nations Human Rights Council on North Korean rights violations and crimes against humanity.
While the current Australian government has been consistently critical of abuses by Russia and North Korea, the same cannot be said regarding its approach to China. While condemning human rights violations in Tibet and Xinjiang at the UN general assembly last year, the Australian ambassador to China visited Tibet without issuing an official statement about the severe repression there while the Chinese government milked the visit for propaganda purposes, portraying it as an educational visit to teach the Australian ambassador about “Tibet’s development and prosperity”.
The overall result of such mixed messaging is that, when rights abuses are committed by powerful governments, Australia is willing to look the other way.
A government can’t half care about human rights. The Australian government’s “disagree where we must” approach with China sets a precedent that human rights issues can be ignored when they get in the way, and by doing so validates the abusers’ interests ahead of Australia’s national interest.
The Andrews photo is a jarring reminder of the Australian government’s mixed messaging in its dealing with China.
Daniela Gavshon is Australia director of Human Rights Watch
