/qnotables22/ - ===Q Notables 2022===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16331751 (240856ZMAY22) Notable: Election delays top witness in Ben Roberts-Smith trial - The change of government will delay the evidence of the highest ranking SAS soldier to testify in the defamation trial of Ben Roberts-Smith

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>>122763

>>122465

Election delays top witness in Ben Roberts-Smith trial

The change of government will delay the evidence of the highest ranking SAS soldier to testify in the defamation trial of Ben Roberts-Smith.

Perry Duffin - May 24, 2022

The change of government has thrown a spanner in the works of Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial as the most senior SAS soldier in the case prepares to take the stand.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers claiming they defamed him in articles that alleged he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

The marathon trial was supposed to be in its final week of evidence but Labor’s victory in Canberra has changed that, the Federal Court heard on Tuesday.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team were calling an SAS commander, known as Person 81, to testify about a mission in Afghanistan in 2009.

Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith, during that mission, was involved in two war crime murders.

The Victoria Cross recipient denies every allegation against him.

Some SAS witnesses have placed Person 81, who was then a senior officer in the regiment, in the Taliban compound now at the centre of the case.

Person 81 was expected to be questioned about the raid but top secret ADF documents would need to be released to the legal teams from the Commonwealth government before he took the stand.

The defeat of the Coalition means Labor is yet to appoint a full time Attorney-General to sign off on the release of the documents.

The court, on Tuesday, heard an interim A-G may sign off on the documents but it was not clear if that was going to happen before next week.

It means Person 81 will now not be called until late next week, delaying the end of the gripping case until the start of June.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/election-delays-top-witness-in-ben-robertssmith-trial/news-story/70c5b0389130ee172bd3f9b703e8783e

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16331772 (240904ZMAY22) Notable: PM Anthony Albanese attends first Quad meeting, pledges new government is aligned

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>>122763

PM Anthony Albanese attends first Quad meeting, pledges new government is aligned

ELLEN RANSLEY - MAY 24, 2022

US President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese it’s OK if he falls asleep during the Quad meeting, heaping praise on his new fellow world leader amid a whirlwind diplomatic trip.

A little over 24 hours after being sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister, Mr Albanese made a public statement ahead of the Quad meeting alongside Mr Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In his speech, Mr Albanese thanked his fellow leaders for their “sincere congratulations” on his election win and said it was an “honour” for his first act as prime minister to be attending the Quad.

“The new Australian government’s priorities align with the Quad agenda – taking action on climate change and building a stronger and more resilient Indo-Pacific region through better economic security, better cybersecurity, better energy security, and better environmental and health security,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese outlined Australia’s new climate target – to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 – to reach net zero by 2050.

While the Australian government’s climate targets have changed, Mr Albanese stressed they would continue to work closely on countering China’s rise and interference.

“Our co-operation is built on the values that we share – a commitment to representative democracy, the rule of law, and the right to live in peace,” he said.

Mr Biden heaped congratulations and praise on Mr Albanese before making a joke that had the whole room laughing.

“You got sworn in, got on a plane and if you fall asleep while you’re here, it’s OK,” Mr Biden said.

“I don’t know how you’re doing it. It’s really quite extraordinary just getting off the campaign trail as well.

“Congratulations on your election.”

Mr Biden went on to discuss how Russia’s war in Ukraine had triggered a “humanitarian catastrophe” and had spread around the globe.

“Russia’s assault on Ukraine only highlights the importance of those goals, the fundamental principles of international order, territorial integrity and sovereignty, international law, human rights must always be defended, regardless of where they’re violated in the world,” Mr Biden said.

“The Quad has a lot of work ahead of us.”

Mr Albanese is expected to return to Australia on Wednesday.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/pm-anthony-albanese-attends-first-quad-meeting-pledges-new-government-is-aligned/news-story/08f74f1bc3cbcbe8a4bd36c903ebe329

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16331797 (240912ZMAY22) Notable: Anthony Albanese signs up to Joe Biden’s US-Asia alliance - The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity - a new US-led Asia-Pacific economic bloc aimed at countering Chinese regional dominance

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>>122763

>>122792

Anthony Albanese signs up to Joe Biden’s US-Asia alliance

BEN PACKHAM and GEOFF CHAMBERS - MAY 24, 2022

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Anthony Albanese will sign ­Australia up to a new US-led Asia-Pacific economic bloc aimed at countering Chinese regional dominance, as he meets Quad allies in Tokyo amid heightened US-China tensions over Taiwan.

Australia will join the US, India, Japan and key regional partners in the 13-member economic alliance, aimed at establishing preferential trading rules outside China’s orbit in the world’s fastest-growing economic region.

Just hours after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Mr Albanese flew to Tokyo to attend Tuesday’s Quad leaders’ summit where he will reassure counterparts that Australia under his leadership will maintain a tough stance on China.

The meeting comes a day after Joe Biden warned Beijing was “flirting with danger” in relation to Taiwan, and made an unambiguous commitment to defend the territory against Chinese invasion.

“That’s the commitment we made,” Mr Biden said. “We agreed with the One China policy, we signed on to it … but the idea that (Taiwan) can be taken by force is just not appropriate.”

Before departing for the summit with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Mr Albanese said Australia's relationship with Beijing would remain “a difficult one”, one in which he would “always stand up for our values”.

Mr Albanese said he would use the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting with Mr Biden, Mr Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “send a message to the world” that Australia’s climate change policies had changed.

The Quad meeting is set to be dominated by concerns about China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, amid Beijing’s new security agreement with the Solomon Islands and its ongoing threat towards Taiwan.

Mr Albanese, who will have bilateral meetings with each leader, said the Australia-US alliance was “our most important” relationship, and reiterated his commitment to the nation’s regional and multilateral partnerships. In his meeting with Mr Biden, he is expected to reiterate his commitment to the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership, and discuss escalating ­security pressures in the Indo-­Pacific driven by Chinese diplomatic and military assertiveness.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang congratulated Mr Albanese on Monday night, ending an almost three-year long freeze on relations between Australia and China, although there was no direct contact between the two leaders.

Mr Li said the healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations was conducive to peace, stability, development, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region

He singled out the Labor Party for “making the right choice” in 1972 by breaking ties with Taipei to recognise the People’s Republic of China.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16331825 (240919ZMAY22) Notable: British PM floats expanding AUKUS beyond defence in phone call with Albanese

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>>122763

>>>/qresearch/16325955

British PM floats expanding AUKUS beyond defence in phone call with Albanese

Rob Harris and David Crowe - May 23, 2022

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has raised the prospect of expanding the new security alliance between Australia and the United States in a lengthy phone call with newly sworn-in leader Anthony Albanese.

The pair spoke for the first time on Monday while Albanese was flying to Tokyo for a meeting of the Quad dialogue, where he will meet US President Joe Biden on Tuesday.

Albanese was said to have reiterated Labor’s strong support from the AUKUS pact, which had placed a major strain on diplomatic relations with France last year after Paris accused all three nations of conspiring behind its back to terminate Canberra’s $90 billion deal.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said Johnson told Albanese that he thought the trilateral grouping could go “further together in other domains”, where both countries could “collaborate for the global good”.

The three-way strategic defence alliance is to initially build a class of nuclear-propelled submarines, but also to work together in the Indo-Pacific region, where the rise of China is seen as an increasing threat, and develop wider technologies.

However, diplomatic sources have told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the British government had been wary that an incoming Albanese government might be lukewarm towards the alliance, given its controversy and the previous government’s missteps, and had privately raised the idea of broadening the pact to include other areas such as energy security before the election result.

Johnson was said to have congratulated the new Australian Prime Minister leader “fulsomely” and said he looked forward to strengthening the relationship between the two nations “even further”.

One of the leading advocates for more action on climate change, Johnson had pushed former prime minister Scott Morrison hard before last year’s Glasgow climate summit to adopt a carbon-neutral target by 2050.

While Labor policies are more ambitious than the previous government, many environmentalists argue they do not go far enough. The party has pledged a 43 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050 — in contrast to the Liberals, who had only recently committed to net zero.

However, Albanese has so far refused to ban coal in power stations or to block new mines and courtesy of its parliamentary majority will not be pressured by a large climate-focused crossbench to go any further simply to hold on to power.

Johnson also thanked Australia for its “principled” position and strong support for Ukraine with the pair agreeing that it was important that the war did not embolden other countries to undermine global stability.

He told his counterpart it was an important moment for democracies to stand together and prove their worth, and it was important that coercive autocracies were sent a message of strength and unity.

The readout of the call said Albanese noted that the UK and Australia had a “strong and historic friendship”, stemming from their close Commonwealth ties and the pair agreed that there was more that could be done together across global security, climate change and trade.

The six-week Australian election campaign delayed the implementation of the trade agreement between the nations, struck late that year. The UK is hoping to use the deal as part of its accession to the 11-member trans-Pacific trade bloc.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/british-pm-floats-prospect-of-expanded-aukus-in-phone-call-with-albanese-20220523-p5anvu.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16337709 (250912ZMAY22) Notable: Albanese’s day one: change the climate - Anthony Albanese joins Joe Biden’s climate change crusade and unveils Australia’s new international approach on global carbon emissions at the Quad meeting in Tokyo

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>>122792

Albanese’s day one: change the climate

GEOFF CHAMBERS and WILL GLASGOW - MAY 25, 2022

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Anthony Albanese has joined Joe Biden’s climate change crusade and unveiled Australia’s new international approach on global carbon emissions at a Quad meeting in Tokyo where the US and Japan indirectly warned China they would not allow a Ukraine-like crisis to unfold in the Indo-Pacific.

Amid rising concerns about Chinese threats to Taiwan, South Pacific nations and global supply chains, the Prime Minister was praised by Quad leaders on Tuesday for turning up and committing to the security dialogue 24 hours after being sworn-in.

As promised during the six-week election campaign, Mr Albanese put climate change at the heart of his regional security message to Mr Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Albanese also talked down a congratulatory letter sent to him by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang – the first correspondence from Mr Li or President Xi Jinping to an Australian leader since 2018 – and warned that “China is clearly seeking to exert more influence”.

“Recognising the urgent need to address climate change as emphasised in the latest IPCC -reports,” the statement said, “we will steadfastly implement the Paris Agreement and deliver on the outcomes of COP26.”

The Quad leaders vowed to accelerate efforts to “raise global ambition, including reaching out to key stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific region, and supporting, strengthening, and enhancing climate actions by partners in the region, including through mobilising climate finance, both public and private, and facilitating the research, development, and deployment of innovative technology”.

“We welcome the new Australian government’s commitment to stronger action on climate change, including through passing legislation to achieve net zero by 2050 and lodging a new, ambitious nationally determined contribution,” they said.

Mr Kishida began the meeting by repeating his concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and linking it, indirectly, to fears about Beijing’s threats over Taiwan.

“We should never, ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr Kishida said.

Mr Albanese’s opening statement at the Kantei on Tuesday morning was heavily influenced by climate action and its links with the “security of our region”, as well as Labor’s election commitments to increase foreign aid by almost $1bn and step up Australia’s soft diplomacy efforts.

“My government is committed to working with your countries and we are committed to the Quad,” the Prime Minister said.

“Our co-operation is built on the values that we share. A commitment to representative democracy, the rule of law and the right to live in peace.

“The region is looking to us to work with them and to lead by example. That’s why my government will take ambitious action on climate change and increase our support to partners in the region as they work to address it, including with new finance.

“We will act in recognition that climate change is the main economic and security challenge for the island countries of the Pacific. Under my government, Australia will set a new target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, putting us on track for net zero by 2050.”

In a bilateral meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Biden following the Quad summit, the pair committed to collaborate in “addressing the existential threat posed by climate change” and invited each other to travel to Canberra and Washington DC. Mr Albanese also revealed his conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who failed to convince Scott Morrison to follow the UK and US on global emissions-reduction targets, was dominated by climate change and the AUKUS security pact.

“The main thing that we discussed was climate change,” Mr Albanese said.

“We had quite a good discussion. It was longer than I thought it would be. The truth is the science of climate change is very clear. And we need a very clear response. He welcomed, very much welcomed, the fact that we will have stronger action on climate change, including with a higher 2030 target.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343646 (260850ZMAY22) Notable: Uyghurs in Australia scour through thousands of leaked photos from Xinjiang Police Files searching for loved ones

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Uyghurs in Australia scour through thousands of leaked photos from Xinjiang Police Files searching for loved ones

Erin Handley - 25 May 2022

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Hawagul Tewekkul's eyes brim with tears as she stares down the barrel of a camera.

Her photograph is one of 2,884 mugshots revealed in the Xinjiang Police Files, an unprecedented data leak that sheds new light on China's treatment of Uyghurs.

The source of the files claims to have hacked and downloaded the documents from several police computer servers in China's far-western region of Xinjiang, before decrypting and leaking them to Adrian Zenz, a US-based scholar, who shared the cache with international media.

Thousands of kilometres away, Uyghurs in Australia spent much of the night searching frantically through the database hoping to find a glimpse of their family members.

In many cases, they have not had contact with their loved ones in years.

Rayhangul Abliz told the ABC she trawled through the photographs searching for her parents, who live in a neighbouring area, but in vain.

"I couldn't stop my tears," she said.

"All of them look like my dad or my brothers, every [pair of] eyes looks like [they are] asking me … 'Please help me'."

She said it was distressing to see hundreds and hundreds of faces, and the feeling for many Uyghurs in Australia was funereal.

Human rights groups estimate more than a million people from Muslim ethnic groups, including Uyghurs and Kazakhs, have been detained in re-education facilities — which China calls vocational training centres — in Xinjiang in recent years.

There have also been reports of forced labour and forced sterilisation, as well as accusations of genocide, which China denies.

Ramila Chanisheff described the "devastation" many felt when looking at long sentences handed down for "absurd" reasons.

"It was extremely painful to read the report and see the thousands of innocent faces on the screen," she said.

"We have relatives over there. So [we've been] scouring through the pictures.

"You can hear the anxiety and the stress and sadness in their voices.

"Other people were thinking, 'Well, my family members whom I haven't spoken to in the last five, six years, their pictures are not there. But where are they?'"

Fatimah Abdulghafur, whose father was detained in Xinjiang in 2017 and died the following year, said looking at the photos was "retraumatising".

"It entered our consciousness all over again, even though it never left me or us, the Uyghur people," she said.

At the same time, she said there was a kind of relief in seeing more evidence – directly from Chinese police stations – that contradicts the Chinese Communist Party's narrative and led some to doubt the "huge atrocity" unfolding.

What do we know about the files?

The photos were taken in the first half of 2018 in detention centres and police stations in Konasher county – called Shufu in Chinese – in Kashgar prefecture.

The identity of the source of the files remains a mystery — the BBC said they have connected with the source, but they were not willing to reveal their whereabouts.

For Ms Tewekkul, who was 46 at the time, the reason for her internment is unknown.

The youngest face in the files belongs to Rahile Omer, 15, who was subjected to "re-education".

Others were detained for travelling to "sensitive" countries, or for "growing a beard under the influence of religious extremism", or for listening to "illegal lectures".

The files also contain images captured inside detention centres, as well as information indicating at least 12 per cent of ethnic adults in the county were detained, as well as 15 children.

In some images, minders or police with batons can be seen standing to the edge of the frame. Many depict men with their heads shaved.

The files also include a set of 452 spreadsheets, classified speeches by senior officials and internal police protocols.

Photos from inside the centres appear to show an interrogation in a "tiger chair" — a chair designed to restrain detainees — and a row of detainees watching a speech from a local politician under the watchful eyes of guards.

Other files show surveillance of worshippers at mosques, as well as images of confiscated items, including prayer rugs and hand-written passages from the Qur'an.

One transcript of a May 2017 speech tells police to "handcuff them, blindfold them and use ankle shackles if needed", while another 2017 speech by Xinjiang's leading official instructed police to "shoot dead" anyone who tried to escape.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343649 (260851ZMAY22) Notable: PDF: The Xinjiang Police Files: Re-Education Camp Security and Political Paranoia in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

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>>123749

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Dr Zenz and his team at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation analysed and authenticated the documents and published peer-reviewed research on the data.

The BBC and a consortium of investigative journalists have also been able to authenticate significant findings from the leak.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed the new findings as "the latest example of the anti-China forces' smearing of Xinjiang".

"It is just the same trick as they used to play before," he said.

"The lies and rumours they spread cannot deceive the world, nor can they hide the fact that Xinjiang enjoys peace and stability, its economy is thriving and its people live and work in peace and contentment."

People detained 'simply because of their identity'

Ms Abdulghafur said it was clear Uyghurs were being targeted for their culture and faith, but not enough had been done to answer the question of the motive.

"We had our culture, we had the land, we had everything, and now you're trying to erase us? Why are you doing this?" she said.

The leak coincides with a visit to Xinjiang this week by United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet — a trip some observers fear will be stage-managed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Ms Abdulghafur was concerned Ms Bachelet – whose visit will take place inside a "bubble" to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – would be "fooled".

"She will see all the dancing and seeing Uyghur's happy faces … and it's sick, the world will see a sickness. And meanwhile, the leaked files or the hacked files, they show you a different picture," she said.

Sophie Richardson from Human Rights Watch told ABC's RN Breakfast that the UN's and Ms Bachelet's credibility was on the line, and it was unlikely she would see anything Chinese authorities did not want her to.

She said if Ms Bachelet did not walk away with a strong plan to investigate and prosecute, it would show the world's foremost human rights system had been cowed.

She said the new information was "extraordinary and chilling", and the photographs were reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge's torture prison, Tuol Sleng, in Cambodia.

"These images are people's children, their parents, their siblings — each of these people has a story," she said.

"You can see from the looks on their faces that people are frightened and confused.

"And it's almost certainly because they're being detained not for any discernible criminal offence, but simply because of their identity."

Ms Chanisheff said she wanted the new Labor government to act on a bill passed by the Senate that would ban products of slave labour – such as cotton from forced Uyghur labour — from entering Australia, and to strengthen Magnitsky-style sanctions.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-25/uyghurs-in-australia-xinjiang-police-files-leak-from-china/101097100

https://twitter.com/adrianzenz/status/1528989285692620801

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The faces from China’s Uyghur detention camps

John Sudworth - May 2022

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/85qihtvw6e/the-faces-from-chinas-uyghur-detention-camps

https://www.xinjiangpolicefiles.org/

https://www.xinjiangpolicefiles.org/images-of-detainees/

https://journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/jeacs/article/view/7336

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343661 (260855ZMAY22) Notable: Xi Jinping defends China’s human rights record to visiting UN commissioner - Leader warns against using issue as ‘excuse to interfere in internal affairs of other countries’ as Michelle Bachelet goes to Xinjiang

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>>123749

Xi Jinping defends China’s human rights record to visiting UN commissioner

Leader warns against using issue as ‘excuse to interfere in internal affairs of other countries’ as Michelle Bachelet goes to Xinjiang

Helen Davidson - 25 May 2022

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China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has spoken with the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, as she visited the Xinjiang region, warning against the politicisation of human rights as an “excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries” and defending his government’s record.

It comes amid renewed defensiveness in Beijing after the publication of a significant data leak from Xinjiang’s security apparatus, including mugshots of thousands of detained Uyghurs and internal documents outlining shoot-to-kill policies for those who try to escape.

Xinjiang is home to millions of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims, who have been subjected to a Chinese government campaign of cultural, linguistic and social control and acts of oppression that governments including the US have termed a genocide.

Bachelet, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, is in China for a highly orchestrated six-day visit, including the Xinjiang cities of Kashgar and Urumqi. The tour, which China has said is not an investigation, has been met with criticism by some western legislators over its potential to be used as propaganda.

In a video call on Wednesday, Xi and Bachelet “expounded in depth major issues related to the development of the Chinese human rights cause”, according to an official state media readout. The president said China had successfully embarked on a human rights path that “suits its national conditions”.

“There is no perfect ‘ideal country’ on the human rights issue; there is no need for a ‘teacher’ who commands other countries, and we can’t politicise and instrumentalise the human rights issue, engage in double standards, and use human rights as an excuse to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” he told her, according to CCTV and Xinhua.

“Deviating from reality and completely copying the institutional model of other countries will not only be difficult to adjust to, but also bring disastrous consequences, and in the end, it is the broad masses of the people who will suffer.”

The readout also claimed that Bachelet, among other remarks, told Xi she “admired China’s efforts and achievements in eradicating poverty, protecting human rights, and realising economic and social development”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343917 (261102ZMAY22) Notable: Video: Penny Wong visits Fiji, saying Australia neglected Pacific on climate change, as China's Wang Yi visits Solomon Islands

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Penny Wong visits Fiji, saying Australia neglected Pacific on climate change, as China's Wang Yi visits Solomon Islands

ABC/wires - 26 May 2022

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has arrived in Solomon Islands, the first stop of an eight-nation Pacific tour, where he is seeking a sweeping regional deal on security and trade.

His visit coincides with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong arriving in Fiji on Thursday to meet with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama tomorrow, her first Pacific visit since being sworn in on Monday.

In a keynote address, Senator Wong said previous Australian governments had let down the Pacific family on climate change.

"I acknowledge and understand that, under past governments, Australia has neglected its responsibility to act on climate," she said.

"I understand that climate change isn't an abstract threat, it's a present and existential one."

She praised Pacific leaders for their leadership on climate action, vowed Australia would listen to them, and acknowledged they had been "ignored" and "disrespected" in the past.

"We will end the climate wars in our country," she said.

"This is a different Australian government and a different Australia.

"And we will stand shoulder to shoulder with you, our Pacific family, in response."

She added that Australia "will remain a critical development partner for the Pacific family in the years ahead" in dealing with the triple challenge of climate, COVID-19 and "strategic contest".

"Australia will be a partner that doesn't come with strings attached nor imposing unsustainable financial burdens," she said.

"We understand that the security of any one Pacific family member rests on the security of all."

When asked about China's growing influence in the region, she said she did not approach discussion about China's activities in the Pacific as abstract from Australia.

"I look at this and think, 'What is it we need to do to work together to ensure that regional security is fostered and supported?'" she said.

"I respect the sovereign right of every nation to make its own decisions … these aren't decisions in the abstract. These are decisions which affect other nations and the region as a whole."

Wong receives warm welcome from Pacific Islands Forum

Ahead of the speech, Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna said on Twitter it "speaks volumes that her first bilateral visit as Foreign Minister is to our Blue Pacific region".

"This is an issue so critical for our survival, and we cannot settle for anything less than urgent climate action now," he said in remarks before Senator Wong's speech.

Senator Wong has wasted no time in signalling Labor's intention to work more closely with Pacific islands nations, sharing an address to Pacific leaders on Twitter soon after she was sworn in and travelling to Fiji barely 24 hours after returning from a Quad meeting in Tokyo.

Australia to increase aid to Pacific, introduce new visa pathways

In her speech, Senator Wong pointed to a promised increase in Australia's overseas development assistance to the Pacific by $525 million over the next four years.

She said the government would ensure Pacific Islanders who came to Australia to work were treated fairly, with better conditions, and said workers would be allowed to bring their families here.

The new government will also create a Pacific engagement visa to provide a pathway to permanency for 3,000 people per year.

Senator Wong said an Australia-Pacific Climate Infrastructure Partnership would support climate-related infrastructure and energy projects in Pacific countries and Timor-Leste.

She added the new government would reinstate the role of Australia's ambassador for climate change, and would appoint Australia's inaugural First Nations ambassador, who would lead a new office within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343938 (261111ZMAY22) Notable: Deals sought as China casts Pacific net - Beijing is seeking a deal with 10 Pacific countries offering policing, security, cyber support and a new China-Pacific free-trade agreement, dramatically escalating Xi Jinping’s grab for regional influence

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>>123753

Deals sought as China casts Pacific net

BEN PACKHAM and GEOFF CHAMBERS - MAY 26, 2022

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Beijing is seeking a deal with 10 ­Pacific countries offering policing, security, cyber support and a new China-Pacific free-trade agreement, dramatically escalating Xi Jinping’s grab for regional influence.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will seek support for the proposed deal at a meeting of ­Pacific Island foreign ministers during an unprecedented regional eight-nation trip starting on Thursday, as Australia’s new ­Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, embarks on her own Pacific blitz to counter China’s efforts to win over the nation’s traditional partners.

Senator Wong said “after a lost decade we’ve got a lot of work to do to regain Australia’s position as the partner of choice in the Pacific, in a region that’s less secure and more contested”.

A draft agreement and five-year action plan sent by Beijing to 10 ­Pacific Island nations, first ­revealed by Reuters, proposes strengthened “exchanges and co-operation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security“.

Mr Wang will seek agreement on the plan at a meeting on Monday with Pacific foreign ministers in Fiji, midway through his ­regional trip that will also take in visits to Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.

It follows China’s controversial security deal with the Solomon ­Islands, which Australia and the US fear could open the way for a Chinese base less than 2000km off Cairns.

The proposed agreement says China would provide “intermediate and high-level police training” and forensic laboratory processing for Pacific Islands police forces, as well as cyber security, customs and data network support.

It also flags a China-Pacific ­Islands free-trade area, and support for action on climate change and health.

Senator Wong will visit Fiji on Thursday in her first Pacific ­Islands visit, meeting Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and ­Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna “to discuss how we can best secure our region and help build a stronger Pacific family”.

The trip will be the first in a burst of regional visits by Senator Wong, who is expected to visit ­almost every one of Australia’s ­Pacific partners in coming weeks. “China has made its intentions clear. So too are the intentions of the new Australian government,” she said. “We want to help build a stronger Pacific family. We want to bring new energy and more ­resources to the Pacific.

“And we want to make a uniquely Australian contribution including through our Pacific ­labour programs and new permanent migration opportunities.”

Anthony Albanese will also begin a series of important ­regional trips, starting with Indonesia, in coming weeks. He will then visit Papua New Guinea as soon as possible after the country’s national elections, which run from July 2-22.

The Prime Minister exchanged tweets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday, telling him he looked forward to visiting Jakarta and deepening co-operation and economic ties between the neighbours.

“Look forward to working closely with you in advancing our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including the concrete ­implementation of IA-CEPA,” Mr Joko said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343959 (261123ZMAY22) Notable: China to provide South Pacific countries ‘what US, Australia failed to offer’ - Yang Sheng and Liu Caiyu - globaltimes.cn

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>>123753

China to provide South Pacific countries ‘what US, Australia failed to offer’

Yang Sheng and Liu Caiyu - May 25, 2022

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As China and South Pacific island countries are going to strengthen their cooperation to better serve local people's demand for development, some voices from the West or Western media have started to distort the cooperation and hype the fear of a new "Cold War." Chinese experts said the US and Australia always see the island countries as their puppets. So when China help them to become independent and prosperous, the West will definitely feel anxious.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor upon invitation from May 26 to June 4, and will also visit Micronesia via video and have a virtual meeting with leaders of Cook Islands and Niue. Observers believe this trip will be a milestone for relations between China and the entire region.

Wang's trip will cover cooperation and deals in many fields including economy, infrastructure, climate change, public health, policing and security.The reason why China's presence has been welcomed by the regional countries is that China could promote the livelihood of the locals and activate the economic potentials of those islands, experts said. However, some Western media have focused only on the cooperation about security, and tried to exaggerate that the cooperation could spark "new Cold War" between China and the West in the region.

"I totally disagree with the saying that the cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries could spark a 'new Cold War,'" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a routine press conference on Wednesday.

He cited the fact sheet published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday reflecting the broad cooperation between the two sides in the fields of economy, trade, maritime environmental protection, poverty relief, tourism, education, culture and sports and said that "the relationship between China and the island countries has become an example of unity and cooperation between the countries with different scales and political systems."

Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Washington and Australia have been hyping the "China threat" mythology with fabrications of the so-called Chinese military base in the region.

"However, the slightest effort of fact-checking would show that the security cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries aims to maintain social order as a way to guarantee a stable business environment, to prevent riots and violent disturbance from taking place again," noted Chen, also director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University.

The Solomon Islands' security cooperation with China is based on real security concerns. The riots in 2021 incurred huge damage to the country's public order and political security, and threatened the safety of local people and expatriates, including Chinese businesspeople in the country. So if the security cooperation has brought about anxiety to the West, it means they are trying to harm the independence and safety of the Solomon Islands and other South Pacific Island countries, said analysts.

Control vs cooperation

Penny Wong, Australia's new foreign minister, said she would travel to Fiji on Thursday, a trip that will coincide with Wang's tour of the eight Pacific Island countries. According to the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, Wong said that "China has made its intentions clear. So too are the intentions of the new Australian government."

Chen said Australia apparently regards the South Pacific as its exclusive sphere of influence and has attempted to ostracize China. But China's successful cooperation with the island countries based on mutual respect and reciprocal benefits has been accepted and welcomed by the island countries. "China believes that countries, no matter big or small, should be treated equally - they are not there for anyone to win over and to control."

Shen Shishun, an Asia-Pacific expert with the China Institute of International Studies, said that "the most prominent manifestation of Australia's colonial mentality toward the South Pacific region" is that it always assumes itself as "a leader of South Pacific countries" or "a head in a family" that everyone must obey.

So the idea of Australia developing ties with the South Pacific Island countries is about "control" while China's idea is based on "win-win cooperation," and if Australia wants to compete with China in the region, it's about the competition between "control" and "cooperation," said analysts.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16343976 (261131ZMAY22) Notable: GT Voice: To break ice in China trade, the ball is in Australia's court - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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GT Voice: To break ice in China trade, the ball is in Australia's court

Global Times - May 25, 2022

New Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday urged China to remove the so-called trade barriers against Australian goods when attending a summit of Quad in Tokyo, Reuters reported.

"It's China that has applied sanctions on Australia. There is no justification for doing that. And that's why they should be removed," he said.

It is not surprising to see the new prime minister repeat some cliché accusations against China when it comes to the bilateral trade issues. After all, he was just sworn in and might have not had the chance to review the current trade issues. Therefore, it must be pointed out that to break the ice in trade tensions between China and Australia, the ball is in Australia's court. It was the Australian federal government that discriminated against Chinese firms and investments and torn apart economic agreements - on top of the tremendous political hostility. China has never announced any economic retaliation or "sanctions" against Australia.

Currently, observers generally believe that while it remains to be seen whether Albanese and his team will restore rationality to their China policy, the new government at least provides an opportunity for the China-Australia relationship to see some improvement. And from the perspective of both its own national interest and its current economic situation, Canberra needs to value this hard-won opportunity.

China has long been Australia's largest trading partner, largest export market and largest source of imports. Even as the China-Australia relationship has been down to a deep freeze since 2020, bilateral trade still accounted for the largest share in Australia's total trade over the past two years. In 2021, Australia exports to China hit $133 billion.

Had Canberra, led by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, not made erroneous remarks and deeds on issues concerning China's core interests and internal affairs, and not gone further down the road of politicizing trade and investment issues by frequently suppressing Chinese companies on grounds of national security, then the Australian economy would have reaped dividends from bilateral trade far beyond its current level.

Due to the geographical distance, there is no territorial or historical conflict between China and Australia. All the so-called national security problems are nothing but imagination by some politicians. But regrettably, the former Morrison government has been keen to serve as an "anti-China vanguard" to show its loyalty and commitment to strengthen the US-Australia alliance, with little regard for its economic ties with China.

In fact, Australia's hostility toward China has always been in the shadow of the US' geopolitical games. For a long time, the US has shown a strong willingness to politicize trade activities, which inevitably affected Australia, contributing to the latter's trade difficulties with China.

If the new Australian government has the willingness to change the situation, they need to find ways to turn a new page for its relationship with China. Of course, given that Australia is one of the US' closest allies, that change may not be easy to come.

But if the new government still wants to make a difference economically, they need to stop politicizing trade activities as the US does to show its sincerity to cooperate with China, at least on the trade front. For instance, they need to grant Chinese high-tech companies like Huawei fair treatment instead of shutting them out citing baseless national security reasons.

If Canberra wants to change course with China, there is actually no short of cooperation opportunities for both countries. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which took effect at the beginning of this year, is supposed to bring more resilient regional supply chains and more export opportunities for countries within the trade bloc.

Moreover, both countries have set ambitious targets for tackling climate change, which could open a new front for cooperation. China will aim to hit peak emissions before 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060, while Albanese pledged to set an emissions reduction target of 43 percent by 2030 and boost the share of renewables in the national electricity market to 82 percent.

All in all, we hope that the new government could reduce hostility and show sincerity in its China policy to at least ease tensions for bilateral trade so as to promote trade relations with China in a pragmatic manner. Baselessly accusing China of economic "sanctions" is not a positive first step.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1266572.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16344026 (261148ZMAY22) Notable: China seeks region-wide Pacific Islands agreement, Federated States of Micronesia decry draft as threatening 'regional stability'

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>>123753

China seeks region-wide Pacific Islands agreement, Federated States of Micronesia decry draft as threatening 'regional stability'

Stephen Dziedzic - 25 May 2022

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong is promising to blitz the Pacific with a host of visits over coming weeks as Australia grapples with the fallout from a renewed push by China to dramatically expand security and commercial ties with the region.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia had "dropped the ball" and Senator Wong's visit to the region would indicate that his government wants to "step up, genuinely".

"We need to respond to this because this is China seeking to increase its influence in the region of the world where Australia has been the security partner of choice since the Second World War," Mr Albanese told ABC News Breakfast.

"They are sovereign nations and we need to respect that, of course, but we need to be offering more support. Otherwise, we can see the consequences with the deal that was done with the Solomons.

"We know China sees that as the first of many, which is the context of their Foreign Minister's visit to the region."

On Wednesday, Reuters revealed that China will seek a region-wide deal with almost a dozen Pacific islands, covering policing, security and data communications cooperation.

A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by Beijing to 10 Pacific islands ahead of a foreign ministers meeting on May 30 prompted pushback from at least one of the invited nations, which says it showed China's intent to control the region and "threatens regional stability".

In a letter to 21 Pacific leaders, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) President David Panuelo said his nation would argue the "pre-determined joint communique" should be rejected, because he fears it could spark a new "Cold War" between China and the West.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Wednesday dismissed "sensational remarks" that the region-wide deal could spark a new Cold War between China and the West in the region.

"China and South Pacific Island countries are good friends and good partners pursuing common development on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," Mr Wang said at a routine press conference.

The ABC has also obtained a copy of the letter by Mr Panuelo — as well as the "Five Year Action Plan on Common Development" and "Common Development Vision" that China's government has proposed to Pacific states — and verified the contents.

The two documents not only lay out a plan to expand policing cooperation but also propose a new free trade arrangement between China and the Pacific, a new Chinese government envoy to the region, intensified cyber security cooperation and deeper cooperation across a host of sectors from agriculture to fishery and pandemic management.

Senator Wong is due to travel to Fiji on Thursday to meet with top officials and leaders as she begins a regional push to cement Australia's position and press back on Beijing's most recent foray into the region.

"China has made its intentions clear. So too are the intentions of the new Australian government. We want to help build a stronger Pacific family," she said.

"I will be a frequent visitor to the Pacific, starting this week with a visit to Fiji as we lead up to the Pacific Islands Forum."

"We want to bring new energy and more resources to the Pacific. And we want to make a uniquely Australian contribution including through our Pacific labour programs and new permanent migration opportunities."

Multiple diplomats and officials said they were aware of Mr Panuelo's letter warning against the deal, and of China's push to rapidly strengthen ties with the region.

But the officials said several other Pacific island countries were also deeply uneasy about the document and were determined to resist Beijing's push. One Western diplomat predicted it could spark a round of recrimination between Pacific Island countries that recognise China.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16344039 (261154ZMAY22) Notable: Peter Dutton 2.0: I’ll be a gentler and caring me - Peter Dutton has promised that Australians will see another side of his character as opposition leader, arguing the Liberal Party is the natural champion of families, small business and aspirational workers across the ­nation’s cities, suburbs and regions

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Peter Dutton 2.0: I’ll be a gentler and caring me

JOE KELLY and SIMON BENSON - MAY 26, 2022

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Peter Dutton has promised that Australians will see another side of his character as opposition leader, arguing the Liberal Party is the natural champion of families, small business and aspirational workers across the ­nation’s cities, suburbs and regions.

The former defence minister has confirmed he will nominate for the leadership of the Liberal Party and has campaigned on a platform to unify his colleagues and hold Labor to account in an economic cycle dominated by rising inflation and interest rates.

Mr Dutton said he would reveal a gentler side of his character, arguing that the public had grown accustomed to seeing him in “tough portfolios” like defence and home affairs where his job was to deport drug traffickers and child sex offenders.

Amid the debate over whether the party should shift to the right or the left after the teal revolution saw the Liberals lose up to six inner-city seats to Climate 200 independents, Mr Dutton signalled he would lead from the centre.

“We aren’t the Moderate Party. We aren’t the Conservative Party. We are Liberals. We are the Liberal Party. We believe in families – whatever their composition,” he said. “Small and micro businesses. For aspirational, hard-working ‘forgotten people’ across cities, suburbs, regions and in the bush.

“I’ve had tough jobs – firstly as a policeman dealing with serious sexual assaults and murders, to home affairs minister where I deported drug traffickers and child sex offenders.

“Most people have only seen that side of me. I hope now, in moving from such tough port­folios, the Australian public can see the rest of my character, the side my family, friends and colleagues see. The side my community sees, where they have elected me eight times.

“I come from the suburbs and I have never changed my values or forgotten where I come from.”

One of Mr Dutton’s key challenges will be his ability to appeal to female voters, with Scott Morrison having faced severe criticism over his handling of women’s issues, including the response to the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.

Mr Dutton’s wife, Kirilly, said her husband was an “amazing ­father and the kids adore him”.

The couple has two sons, Harry, 17, and Tom, 16, and daughter Rebecca, 20, from Mr Dutton’s first marriage.

“He has a great sense of humour - very dry and witty but he also has an incredible compassion, particularly when it comes to the protection of women and children,” Ms Dutton said.

“He hides a lot of his emotion from the public but he gets most upset at reports of children or women being sexually abused or harmed. It obviously stems from his time as a policeman working in that area, but it’s also from being the eldest of five kids growing up in the suburbs.”

Mr Dutton said Australians needed a prime minister who “won’t buckle in hard times and will stand up for our country, and I have proved that in the portfolios I’ve had”.

“My work ethic is second to none and I have the skill and experience, having served five leaders and having learnt from each,” he said.

“I have held portfolios in government and in opposition, including defence, home affairs, health, fin­ance, assistant treasurer, sport and employment,

“I was raised by my political mentors John Howard and Peter Costello. I was a minister under John, assistant treasurer under Peter.

“Things are going to be tough under Labor: higher interest rates, cost of living, inflation and electricity prices. Labor talked a big game on the economy.

“They now have to deliver, and we will hold them to account.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16344054 (261204ZMAY22) Notable: Peter Dutton seeks to recast his image as Tanya Plibersek apologises for likening him to Voldemort

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>>123758

Peter Dutton seeks to recast his image as Tanya Plibersek apologises for likening him to Voldemort

Georgia Hitch and Nour Haydar - 26 May 2022

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Federal Liberal MP Peter Dutton is seeking to change his public image ahead of a vote on Monday to confirm the leader of the Liberal Party and the next opposition leader.

Mr Dutton has formally nominated for the leadership, but he would not speculate on who the deputy leader could be.

Mr Dutton is also attempting to soften his image, saying while he would not be changing who he was he wanted people to be able to see his "complete character".

"Not just what they've seen through sound grabs when I'm talking about boats or all sorts of different issues," he told Nine radio.

"You've got to be a tough person to be the defence minister in this country, you have to be a tough minister to be in charge of ASIO and the Australian Federal Police and Border Force.

"But I've been elected in my seat eight times now and locals who've seen me and interacted with me, I think see a more complete picture and I hope I can show that side as well and people can draw their own conclusions."

Announcing his nomination on social media, Mr Dutton said Australia needed a leader who would not buckle in hard times.

The Liberal nominee said he'd had tough jobs as a government minister and formerly a police officer, but that he also had a softer side.

"Most people have only seen that side of me," he wrote.

"I hope now, in moving from such tough portfolios, the Australian public can see the rest of my character. The side my family, friends and colleagues see."

Earlier, Mr Dutton also appeared to try and differentiate himself from former prime minister Scott Morrison when it came his religiosity.

"I believe in God but I don't attend church on a regular basis, so I'd be a failed Catholic as Tony Abbott would point out, but I don't seek to make that part of who I am," he said.

Mr Morrison was very public about the depth of his Pentecostal Christian faith and regularly attends church.

Yesterday, ousted Liberal MP Dave Sharma said voters in his Sydney electorate believed Mr Morrison was "too religious".

Mr Dutton said as Opposition Leader he would seek to "bring the party together" and restore its position as a "broad church" with voices from both the left and right, but that at the end of the day the Liberal Party was centre-right and would not become "Labor lite".

The 51-year-old conservative hard head has been the centre of his fair share of controversy during his more than 20 years in parliament.

In 2015, he was caught on a "hot mic" making a joke about "water lapping at the door" of Pacific Island nations because of climate change and the next year he made inflammatory remarks about refugees' literacy levels.

He was also the only opposition frontbencher in 2008 to boycott then prime minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations and personally voted no "and encouraged people to do the same" to same-sex marriage in the 2017 postal vote.

Ultimately, Mr Dutton voted in favour of same-sex marriage in parliament after majority support for it was made clear by the postal vote.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349783 (270955ZMAY22) Notable: Election 2022: Scott Morrison says teal independents who unseated up to six moderate Liberals ran a “vicious and brutal campaign” against the Coalition, as he confirmed he would remain in parliament as a backbencher

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Election 2022: Teals were vicious and brutal, says Scott Morrison

JESS MALCOLM - MAY 27, 2022

Scott Morrison says teal independents who unseated up to six moderate Liberals ran a “vicious and brutal campaign” against the Coalition, as he confirmed he would remain in parliament as a backbencher.

In his first interview since ­Labor won government on ­Saturday, the former prime minister said he was extremely disappointed but conceded Australians had clearly spoken in favour of change.

Speaking to 2GB radio on Thursday, Mr Morrison said the teal independents had “played hard”. He said he hoped the new independents, who campaigned on ambitious climate change targets and a stronger federal anti-corruption watchdog, followed through on their promises.

“They’ve made all sorts of big commitments about how they think they can change everything – well, we’ll just see, won’t we?” Mr Morrison said. “The newcomers need to be held to account if they did not deliver.”

“I‘m devastated Josh Fry­denberg won’t be there,” Mr Morrison said.

“He was a huge part of the party’s future and I certainly hope he still is in some way.”

While refusing to comment ­directly on the future direction of the Liberal Party, Mr Morrison said he would give his full support to the new team.

“I look forward to giving that new leadership every support, and going back to being a quiet ­Australian in the (Sutherland) Shire,” he said.

“It’s not the first time that the Liberal Party has lost an election. That happens in various cycles, but the party will regroup under new leadership.”

The new independent MP for North Sydney, Kylea Tink, ­denied accusations that those backed by the Climate 200 group ran a brutal campaign, as she attacked the ­Coalition for ­“refusing to listen” to voter ­concerns.

“I don’t think our campaign was brutal at all,” Ms Tink told Sky News. “It was the antithesis of that.”

She said the previous ­Coalition government was one that “was not listening and ­refused to listen”.

Mr Morrison said he was ­looking forward to spending more time with his family after a tough few years.

“I’ve got no plans to go anywhere,” Mr Morrison said. “I am going back to the Shire and re-establishing our life back there and getting the girls back into their routine.

“I’ve just dropped them off at school this morning. I’m looking forward to being a dad again – it’s been a while since I’ve been able to spend as much time as I would like with the family. ”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/election-2022-teals-were-vicious-and-brutal-says-scott-morrison/news-story/cd9791df5492b0638a030a7bb241d506

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349788 (271004ZMAY22) Notable: ‘Trust and respect’: Macron agrees to rebuild ties with Australia - French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to start rebuilding his country’s fractured relationship with Australia, during his first phone call with new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

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‘Trust and respect’: Macron agrees to rebuild ties with Australia

Trudy Harris - May 27, 2022

Sydney | French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to start rebuilding his country’s fractured relationship with Australia, during his first phone call with new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Macron reminded his new counterpart during the phone call of the “severe breach of trust” that occurred between the two countries over a cancellation of a $90 billion submarine contract that angered Paris.

But in a statement released by the French presidential palace on Thursday (Friday AEST), the leaders agreed to “rebuild a bilateral relationship based on trust and respect to jointly overcome global challenges, foremost among them the climate emergency, and the strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific”.

Mr Macron, who had previously written to Mr Albanese following his election victory on Saturday night, called the prime minister to congratulate him and to discuss the road map ahead, the Élysée statement also said.

“A road map will be prepared to structure this new bilateral agenda, by identifying strategic co-operation between our two countries with the aim of strengthening our resilience and contributing to regional peace and security.”

Mr Macron recalled during the call the “historical ties forged” between France and Australia during World War I and the “immense gratitude of generations of French people” for Australian soldiers’ efforts.

“This sacrifice will never be forgotten, especially when war has returned to the heart of the European continent,” he said of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The French leader had a spectacular personal falling out with Scott Morrison over the Coalition government’s cancellation of the submarine contract with French company Naval Group, and the subsequent creation of AUKUS.

Mr Macron accused Mr Morrison of lying to him, and the two men proved unable to move their governments on from the diplomatic fracas.

Mr Albanese said their conversation was “warm and constructive” in a social media post on Thursday night, with the two leaders discussing their commitment to “a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific, cooperating on climate and energy, and support for Ukraine”.

“I look forward to working together on our shared priorities,” he said on Twitter.

Last October, an outraged France accused its allies of stabbing it in the back when Australia opted for nuclear-powered submarines to be built with US and British technology instead of a multi-billion dollar French submarine program.

Departing French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was a bitter critic of the AUKUS pact, and told French media on Saturday that “the defeat of Morrison suits me fine”.

https://www.afr.com/world/europe/trust-and-respect-macron-agrees-to-rebuild-ties-with-australia-20220527-p5aoy6

https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1529777358252949506

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349801 (271013ZMAY22) Notable: US State Department greenlights proposed sale of half-a-billion-dollars in rocket launch capability to Australia - Australia’s to purchase 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicles for approximately US$385 million (AU$542 million)

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US greenlights proposed HIMARS rocket launcher sale to Australia

Charbel Kadib - 27 MAY 2022

The State Department has rubber-stamped the proposed sale of half-a-billion-dollars in rocket launch capability to Australia.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has announced the approval of Australia’s proposed request to purchase 20 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) for approximately US$385 million (AU$542 million).

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale to the government of Australia of HIMARS launchers and related equipment for an estimated cost of $385 million.

Also included in the proposed deal are:

• 30 M30A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS);

• 30 Alternative Warhead (AW) pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion Systems (IMPS);

• 30 M31A2 GMLRS Unitary (GMLRS-U) high explosive pods with IMPS;

• 30 XM403 Extended Range (ER)-GMLRS AW pods;

• 30 EM404 ER GMLRS unitary pods; and

• 10 M57 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

The Lockheed Martin-built system is billed as a technically advanced, affordable and sustainable artillery solution, designed to offer multiple launch rocket system firepower on a wheeled chassis.

HIMARS can carry a single six-pack of GMLRS rockets or one TACMS missile aboard a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) five-tonne truck and can launch the entire MLRS family of munitions.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States,” the DSCA noted in a statement.

“Australia is one of our most important allies in the Western Pacific. The strategic location of this political and economic power contributes significantly to ensuring peace and economic stability in the region.

“It is vital to the US national interest to assist our ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defence capability.”

Two US government and five US contractor representatives are expected to support the Australian Defence Force’s integration of the capability.

This is the latest of a number of proposed foreign military sales approved by the United States this year.

In April, the Commonwealth government secured approval for its proposed acquisition of 106 Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System (MIDS JTRS) terminals for approximately US$42 million ($56 million).

Earlier in the year, the US also greenlit a US$122 million ($168.7 million) purchase request for Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) and related equipment.

https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/strike-air-combat/10082-us-greenlights-proposed-himars-rocket-launcher-sale-to-australia

https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales/australia-himars-launchers

https://www.dsca.mil/sites/default/files/mas/Press%20Release%20-%20Australia%2022-28%20CN.pdf

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349807 (271018ZMAY22) Notable: Missing witness and a change of government: the latest delays in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case - Trial held up due to Covid and fall of Kabul now waits for evidence release by new attorney general and reappearance of Person 27

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Missing witness and a change of government: the latest delays in Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case

Trial held up due to Covid and fall of Kabul now waits for evidence release by new attorney general and reappearance of Person 27

Ben Doherty - 27 May 2022

Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case – first filed in 2018 – has borne delays for Covid and national security concerns, been rearranged because of the fall of Kabul, and now, in its final days of evidence, has been further stalled by a change of government and witnesses who can’t be found.

The nearly year-long trial, has only two witnesses left to appear – both subpoenaed by Roberts-Smith: two serving SAS members, anonymised as Person 27 and Person 81.

Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, is suing three newspapers for defamation over a series of reports he alleges portray him as committing war crimes, including murder.

The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.

Person 27 has already given evidence in this trial, but is being recalled to be re-cross-examined over alleged inconsistencies in his evidence.

But efforts to find him have thus far proven fruitless.

The court heard Friday morning it was believed he was “out of the jurisdiction … that is overseas” on military service, “but we haven’t been able to confirm that,” the barrister for Roberts-Smith, Arthur Moses SC, told the court.

The appearance of the final witness has been delayed by Australia’s change of government at the weekend. Person 81 is a serving member of the SAS, and a senior officer in the regiment.

About 30 defence documents relating to his evidence need to be released by the government, requiring the commonwealth attorney general to sign off because of national security concerns.

With the change in government after last weekend’s election result, that signoff has been delayed. ACT Senator Katy Gallagher has been sworn in as interim attorney general and is expected to make a decision on whether to release the documents early next week.

It is expected that the final two witnesses will give evidence next week. After a break, the trial will then hear closing submissions, before Justice Anthony Besanko retires to make a ruling and deliver his judgment.

Roberts-Smith’s defamation action was filed in 2018, but the trial did not begin hearing evidence until the middle of 2021.

The evidence of three Afghan witnesses was brought forward in July that year due to deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan. In a brutal and swift coup, Kabul fell back under the control of the Taliban a month later.

The trial was then delayed by Sydney’s Covid-19 delta outbreak and the closure of some of Australia’s internal borders. Many of the SAS witnesses in Perth were unable to attend court in Sydney without becoming stranded because of Western Australia’s strict Covid restrictions. Given the sensitive nature of their evidence relating to national security, they could not appear by video link.

Lawyers for Roberts-Smith told the court he was being disadvantaged by the constant delays in the trial, and argued hearings should be moved to a new city, lest it become indefinitely delayed. Lawyers for the commonwealth argued against moving, citing the extraordinary and costly national security protocols that had been put in place in Sydney to run the trial.

The trial was kept in Sydney, but was put on hiatus for nearly six months, before resuming in February this year.

The last weeks of evidence have been slowed by scheduling issues around witnesses, including one soldier who was forbidden from giving evidence at the last minute by the foreign military with which he now serves.

The trial will resume next week, with evidence expected to be completed by the end of the week. A judgment could be months, even up to a year, away.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/27/missing-witness-and-a-change-of-government-the-latest-delays-in-ben-roberts-smiths-defamation-case

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349835 (271034ZMAY22) Notable: Julian Assange's family says federal election result brings renewed hope for WikiLeaks founder's release and return to Australia

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Julian Assange's family says federal election result brings renewed hope for WikiLeaks founder's release

Brendan Mounter and Adam Stephen - 27 May 2022

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The family of Julian Assange is hopeful the election of a federal Labor government will pave the way for the WikiLeaks founder's eventual release and a return to Australia.

It has been almost a decade since Mr Assange, who originally hails from Townsville in north Queensland, has been a free man.

For the past three years, he has been in high security detention at Belmarsh Prison in the United Kingdom, after seven years of asylum within London's Ecuadorian embassy in a bid to avoid arrest.

United States authorities have sought Mr Assange's extradition from the UK so he can stand trial on charges of espionage and computer misuse relating to hundreds of thousands of leaked cables from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His brother, film producer Gabriel Shipton, said Mr Assange had been persecuted for publishing the ugly truths of war.

"Julian is accused of what investigative journalists do all the time, which is sourcing and publishing materials from a source, Chelsea Manning," Mr Shipton said.

"Those releases exposed war crimes in Iraq, undocumented civilian deaths in Iraq, corruption, government malfeasance … all sorts of things."

American prosecutors allege Mr Assange unlawfully helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

Family urges incoming government to act

Lawyers for Mr Assange fear he could face up to 175 years in jail if he is extradited to the US and convicted.

But the weekend's election result has buoyed his supporters, with the hope that the new Labor government will intervene and help secure his release.

While in Opposition, newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is reported to have told a February 2021 caucus meeting that "enough was enough" and he "can't see what's served by keeping [Assange] incarcerated".

Mr Albanese is also a signatory to the Bring Julian Assange Home Campaign petition.

Senior Labor MP Mark Dreyfus, who is expected to be appointed Attorney-General, has also expressed a need to "bring the matter to a close".

Mr Shipton is calling on the new government to turn those words into action.

"That was the Labor position before the election so we're very hopeful when there's a new administration, a new government coming in there's always a lot of hope that they will live up to their promises," he said.

"I hope [Mr Albanese] raised Julian's case with [US President] Joe Biden [at the recent Quad meeting]."

The ABC has approached federal Labor to confirm if MPs' positions had changed, whether Mr Assange's case was raised at this week's Quad meeting in Tokyo, and what plans the new government had to intervene or offer consulate assistance.

A spokesperson said the ALP could not comment at this stage, noting the new ministry was yet to be appointed.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349873 (271053ZMAY22) Notable: Video: Wong takes on Beijing over climate, debt and influence - Foreign Minister Penny Wong has warned Pacific leaders a region-wide security and trade deal with Beijing could sacrifice their independence, lead to unsustainable debt levels and endanger the region

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>>123753

Wong takes on Beijing over climate, debt and influence

Eryk Bagshaw - May 26, 2022

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Singapore: Foreign Minister Penny Wong has warned Pacific leaders a region-wide security and trade deal with Beijing could sacrifice their independence, lead to unsustainable debt levels and endanger the region.

Wong spoke in Suva after new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blamed the former Coalition government for China’s rising influence in the Pacific, arguing Australia had “dropped the ball” by neglecting its closest neighbours.

Albanese said the security deal between Beijing and Solomon Islands signed last month was “just the first of a range of deals that they want to exercise” and that Australia had to increase respect as well as funding for the Pacific.

In her first press conference as foreign minister, at the Pacific Islands Forum on Thursday evening, Wong set off a fight over the future of the region as Canberra and Beijing vie for influence and allies through promises of economic development, security assistance and climate change action.

“Our objective is your independence and your own economic sustainability and prosperity,” she said. “It doesn’t come with strings attached. What we would urge as Australia is consideration of where a nation might wish to be in three or five or 10 years.”

Wong said Australia would help secure the region, appoint a new ambassador for climate change and put its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 into law.

“I understand that climate change is not an abstract threat, but an existential one,” she said. “The triple challenges of climate, COVID and strategic contest will challenge us in new ways”.

Wong acknowledged that Australia had neglected its climate change commitments but dismissed Beijing’s criticism of Australia’s record as “disappointing”, noting that China was Australia’s largest coal export market.

In comments directed at Beijing, Wong told the forum that Australia would not impose unsustainable financial burdens. “We are a partner that won’t erode Pacific priorities or institutions,” she said.

She then took a jab at China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, over Beijing’s record on press freedom.

“I hope that you get the opportunity to ask as many questions of the foreign minister when he comes as you get to ask me,” she said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16349907 (271110ZMAY22) Notable: China eyes next Pacific target, says opposition ‘doomed to fail’ - China says attempts by the United States and Australia to sabotage its security plans for the Pacific are doomed to fail, as Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Kiribati to forge ahead with plans for Chinese-built infrastructure in the island nation

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>>123753

China eyes next Pacific target, says opposition ‘doomed to fail’

Eryk Bagshaw and Anthony Galloway - May 27, 2022

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Singapore: China says attempts by the United States and Australia to sabotage its security plans for the Pacific are doomed to fail, as Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Kiribati to forge ahead with plans for Chinese-built infrastructure in the island nation.

As China and Australia go head-to-head in a diplomatic blitz of the Pacific,Wang accused the US and Australia of treating the region as their “backyard” and said China would help strengthen security cooperation in the region. The comments, after a meeting with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele, followed interventions by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the US State Department on Thursday.

“Any smears and attacks on China-Solomon Islands normal security cooperation will be a dead end and any interference and sabotage will be doomed to failure,” Wang said in Honiara.

US officials continue to hold concerns about China’s plans for a two-kilometre runway on the tiny Kiribati island of Kanton halfway between the US and Asia. China’s Foreign Ministry says it has proposed upgrading and improving the airstrip - an ageing stop off on long-haul tourism flights across the Pacific. The Kiribati government maintains China has only provided funding for a feasibility study and any runway will be strictly for civilians. Kiribati’s foreign affairs secretary Michael Foon last week denied the country was in “discussions on a security agreement with any partner” after warnings from the US about a broader deal with China.

Kiribati has control over 3.5 million square kilometres of the Pacific and one of the world’s largest protected fishing areas. Like the Solomons, Kiribati switched its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019. Taiwan claims Beijing made promises to Kiribati of planes, ferries and economic investment.

The details of Wang’s visit have been closely guarded but the Kiribati government made an exception to its strict COVID-19 border policy for the 20-strong Chinese entourage to arrive on Friday. All officials who meet with Wang during his four-hour visit will have to go into quarantine for a week.

Kiribati opposition leader Tessie Lambourne said on Wednesday she was “gravely concerned” about a security deal between Kiribati and Beijing that would give China access to Kanton Island and its marine zones.

“Our rich marine territory in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) will be under China’s control for sure,” she told 1News in New Zealand.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16350025 (271155ZMAY22) Notable: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China - Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare Meets with Wang Yi - 2022-05-27

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>>123753

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare Meets with Wang Yi

2022-05-27

On May 26, 2022 local time, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare met with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Prime Minister's Office in Honiara.

Sogavare asked Wang Yi to convey his sincere greetings to the Chinese leaders and his heartfelt thanks to China for its strong support and great help for Solomon Islands' development. He expressed that Solomon Islands firmly supports China in safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity, firmly defends the one-China principle, and always stands shoulder to shoulder with China on the right side of history.

Sogavare said that China has become the largest infrastructure partner and a reliable development partner of Solomon Islands. He thanked China for providing anti-pandemic materials as well as rapid testing equipment and dispatching medical teams to Solomon Islands. He also appreciated China's timely provision of police supplies and sending police advisors to help maintain social security after the riots in Honiara. The cooperation between Solomon Islands and China is based on equal treatment and mutual respect, witnessing increasingly close ties in various fields and bringing tangible benefits to Solomon Islands' people.

Wang Yi conveyed the Chinese leaders' cordial greetings and good wishes to Prime Minister Sogavare, expressing China's appreciation of Solomon Islands' firm will to safeguard national interests, strong desire to develop China-Solomon Islands friendly cooperation, staunch adherence to the one-China principle and its friendship policy toward China. China also firmly supports Solomon Islands in safeguarding national sovereignty and independence, maintaining domestic solidarity and unity, and accelerating the realization of national prosperity and strength in accordance with the development path chosen by Solomon Islands.

Wang Yi said that friendship, whenever it happens, is cherishable. The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Solomon Islands is not long, but it has a good start and witnesses the steady and rapid development. The two countries witness increasingly deepening political mutual trust and broad prospects for practical cooperation, having become close friends with mutual trust and good partners with mutual support. Facts have showcased that Solomon Islands' political decision to establish diplomatic relations with China is totally in line with the trend of development and progress of the times as well as the fundamental and long-term interests of Solomon Islands' people. China is willing to work with Solomon Islands in the spirit of seizing the day and giving full play to the late starter's advantage so as to make the bilateral relations stronger and promote deeper cooperation for bringing more benefits to the two peoples.

Sogavare thanked China for speaking up for Solomon Islands at the UN Security Council and expressed his willingness to continue to enhance communication and cooperation with China in international affairs. Wang Yi stressed that the evolution of the current changes unseen in a century is accelerating and unilateral bullying acts are rampant, while the collective rise of emerging markets and the peace and development are still inexorable trends. China is willing to work with Solomon Islands to strengthen coordination and cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, adhere to true multilateralism, and promote cooperation on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and climate change response, so as to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized countries.

After the meeting, the two sides attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents on Blue Economy, tariff preferences, health and anti-pandemic, civil aviation, and disaster prevention and mitigation.

On the same day, Wang Yi met with Acting Governor General of Solomon Islands John Patteson Oti. Wang Yi also held talks with Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele and they met the press together.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202205/t20220527_10693326.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16350041 (271159ZMAY22) Notable: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China - Wang Yi Expounds on Three Principles of China-Solomon Islands Security Cooperation - 2022-05-26

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>>123753

>>123768

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Wang Yi Expounds on Three Principles of China-Solomon Islands Security Cooperation

2022-05-26

On May 26, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister of Solomon Islands Jeremiah Manele jointly met the press in Honiara.

In response to a reporter's question about the China-Solomon Islands framework agreement on security cooperation, which has aroused some debate and suspicion, Wang Yi said that the framework agreement on security cooperation negotiated between China and Solomon Islands is the cooperation between sovereign countries, which aims to assist Solomon Islands in improving its policing and law enforcement capabilities and support Solomon Islands to better safeguard its social security while also protecting the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in Solomon Islands, which is reasonable and legitimate with everything being operated in an open and transparent manner.

Wang Yi further expounded on three principles for China and Solomon Islands to promote security cooperation.

The first principle is to fully respect the national sovereignty of Solomon Islands. China-Solomon Islands cooperation is based on Solomon Islands' needs and requirements, on the premise of Solomon Islands' consent, and on the basis of equal consultation. It is never China's foreign policy, nor is it Chinese style, to impose business deals on others, interfere in Solomon Islands' internal affairs, or damage other countries' interests.

The second one is to help maintain the social stability of Solomon Islands. China-Solomon Islands security cooperation includes assistance in maintaining social order, protecting lives and property in accordance with the law as well as conducting humanitarian relief and natural disaster response at the request of Solomon Islands. The aim is to help Solomon Islands strengthen police capacity-building, offset the security governance deficit and maintain domestic stability and long-lasting peace and security. China-Solomon Islands security cooperation is aboveboard and frank, not imposing on others, not targeting third parties and not intending to establish military bases.

The third one is in parallel with regional arrangements. China supports Pacific Island Countries in strengthening security cooperation and working together to address regional security challenges. China also supports the existing regional security cooperation arrangements. At the same time, China-Solomon Islands security cooperation and the existing regional arrangements complement each other, sharing the same objectives and interests. China-Solomon Islands security cooperation conforms to the common interests of Solomon Islands and the South Pacific region.

Wang Yi stressed that Pacific Island Countries are sovereign and independent states and are not anyone's "backyard"; both countries have the right to make their own choices, not being subordinate to others. Any smears and attacks on China-Solomon Islands normal security cooperation will be a dead end and any interference and sabotage will be doomed to failure.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202205/t20220526_10693195.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16350107 (271220ZMAY22) Notable: China-Australia relations: ex-Australian PM Kevin Rudd tells West to offer alternatives to Pacific islands, not ‘lectures’ about their ties with Beijing

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>>123753

China-Australia relations: ex-Australian PM Kevin Rudd tells West to offer alternatives to Pacific islands, not ‘lectures’ about their ties with Beijing

Bhavan Jaipragas - 27 May, 2022

Western powers should avoid delivering “stern moral lectures” to Pacific island states about their deepening ties with China and instead offer alternative development proposals, the former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has said.

The comments by Rudd, the ex-leader of the Australian Labor Party that swept to power in last weekend’s election, comes amid duelling visits by the new Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to the Pacific region this week.

The visits follow the Solomon Islands’ recent decision to sign a security pact with China, a move the West believes is a precursor to Beijing bolstering its military presence in the region. China has denied having any such motivations.

“The critical thing for the island states is to ensure that their basic national interests are being properly attended to by the large powers around the Pacific, Rudd said in a dialogue session at Nikkei’s Future of Asia conference.

He said these micronations – with “micro-budgets” crucially required development assistance, policy arrangements to protect their extensive fisheries resources and protection of their territorial integrity as they come under threat from rising sea levels.

What was required was regular face-to-face diplomacy from senior Australian, New Zealand and American officials, he said.

The way forward was “not to issue public declarations condemning any of these countries for beginning to sign agreements with China”, Rudd said.

“These are sovereign states, they’re entitled to do what they wish to do. The challenge for Australia and other partners in the region is to offer different, better and more development-friendly proposals for consideration embraced by these governments rather than delivering them a stern moral lecture,” he said. “The latter is more likely to have an averse reaction.”

On the likely Asia policy of the new government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who served as Rudd’s No 2 during one of his two terms in power, the former leader said the administration had to deliver concrete policy proposals.

“I think the key challenge for Australia is to respond to the legitimate development needs and climate action needs of both Southeast Asia and the South Pacific rather than waving some strategic wand over the top and pretending it will be all right in the morning.”

Rudd was speaking remotely from Washington on the second day of the high-profile conference, which also featured speeches by the prime ministers of Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

In a panel session earlier on Friday, the former Singaporean ambassador to the United Nations Bilahari Kausikan, US foreign policy scholar Bonnie Glaser, and Peking University’s professor of International Studies Jia Qingguo discussed US-China ties in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Beijing’s decision to remain neutral over the conflict.

Bilahari suggested recent events, including the international community’s reaction to the Russian invasion, indicated that the “global correlation of forces” was moving in the direction of the West “and China cannot be very happy about it”.

The conflict has “coalesced the West, coalesced Europe, it has given new energy to the Quad [group of nations],” he said.

Responding, Jia said it was important to note that the West “has a lot of problems mostly not caused by others, but by themselves at home”. He referenced America’s inability to forge a multi-trade trade pact with Asia – choosing instead to launch a looser Indo-Pacific Economic Framework – due to domestic political reasons.

He suggested that the US was seeking an “ideological” international order, while Beijing was seeking a “secular” order that was based on “national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3179402/china-australia-relations-former-australian-pm-kevin-rudd-tells?module=live&pgtype=homepage

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16350130 (271229ZMAY22) Notable: Australian scholars call for improvement of China-Australia relationship - Xinhua - english.news.cn

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Australian scholars call for improvement of China-Australia relationship

Xinhua - 2022-05-27

CANBERRA, May 27 (Xinhua) - Fifteen scholars from Australian universities called for improvement of China-Australia relationship in an open letter released on Thursday.

The open letter, to the new federal government elected last Saturday, was published on the blog platform Pearls and Irritations.

The scholars included former diplomat and visiting professor in the University of Sydney Jocelyn Chey, Australian National University (ANU) professor and economist Jane Golley, Director of the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney David Goodman, Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute in the University of Technology Sydney James Laurenceson, and Ben Hillman, director of the Australian Center on China in the World in the ANU.

Addressing to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the letter said, "The change in government presents the opportunity for a circuit breaker in the poor diplomatic relations that have developed between Australia and China in the recent past."

"As professors of China Studies who undertake research on various aspects of China's society and politics, we acknowledge that the new government is likely to avoid the over-aggressive approach of its predecessor. In our view less public aggression is likely to be more effective in dealing with China: international engagement should replace the language of war," it said.

The scholars said the growth of China, as a significant regional and would-be global power, is bound to be disruptive, and two-way communication, rather than "megaphone diplomacy", is needed so that the changing environment is managed as effectively as possible.

"A China policy informed as much by diplomatic and economic interests as by great power strategic concerns may well and more sustainably ensure Australia's national and economic security," they said.

"While appreciating the tremendous difficulties ahead we urge this adjustment in approach to China."

https://english.news.cn/20220527/c8490b3ec28f499f80c900d6a21f61de/c.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16350134 (271230ZMAY22) Notable: David Goodman and others – An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China - Pearls and Irritations, johnmenadue.com

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>>123771

David Goodman and others – An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China

P&I Guest Writers - May 26, 2022

To Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong,

In the spirit of new opportunities represented by your election, we would like to offer the following thoughts on our country’s relationship to the People’s Republic of China.

The change in government presents the opportunity for a circuit breaker in the poor diplomatic relations that have developed between Australia and China in the recent past. As professors of China Studies who undertake research on various aspects of China’s society and politics, we acknowledge that the new government is likely to avoid the over-aggressive approach of its predecessor. In our view less public aggression is likely to be more effective in dealing with China: international engagement should replace the language of war.

The growth of China as a significant regional and would-be global power is bound to be disruptive. Two-way communication not ‘megaphone diplomacy’ is needed so that the changing environment is managed as effectively as possible. In particular, a China policy informed as much by diplomatic and economic interests as by great power strategic concerns may well and more sustainably ensure Australia’s national and economic security. While appreciating the tremendous difficulties ahead we urge this adjustment in approach to China.

Vivienne Bath, Professor of Law, University of Sydney.

Jocelyn Chey, AM, Visiting Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney

Louise Edwards, Emeritus Professor University of New South Wales

Mobo Gao, Professor of Chinese, University of Adelaide

Jane Golley, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

David S G Goodman, Professor and Director, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Yingjie Guo, Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney

Hans Hendrischke, Professor of Chinese Business and Management, University of Sydney

Ben Hillman, Professor and Director, Centre on China in the World, Australian National university

James Laurenceson, Professor of Economics and Director Australia China Relations Institute, UTS

Kam Louie, Honorary Professor of Chinese Studies, University of New South Wales

Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Communications, UTS

Sue Trevaskes, Professor of Chinese Studies, Griffith University

Mark Yaolin Wang, Professor and Director Centre for Contemporary China Studies, University of Melbourne

Anthony Welch, Professor of Education, University of Sydney

https://johnmenadue.com/david-goodman-and-others-an-open-letter-to-the-new-government-on-relations-with-china/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356206 (281253ZMAY22) Notable: Kristy Carr, Founder CEO - Bubs Australia Tweet: Thank you, Mr. President. We know this problem can’t be solved by one company alone but @BubsAustralia hopes that we can help bring some relief to American families by offering a clean, safe formula for their babies during these challenging times.

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President Biden Tweet

I’ve got more good news: 27.5 million bottles of safe infant formula manufactured by Bubs Australia are coming to the United States.

We’re doing everything in our power to get more formula on shelves as soon as possible.

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1530253441708314626

—

Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Tweet

Great that @BubsAustralia is helping out American families in need with clean, safe infant formula

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1530354874700943360

—

Kristy Carr, Founder CEO - Bubs Australia Tweet

Thank you, Mr. President. We know this problem can’t be solved by one company alone but @BubsAustralia hopes that we can help bring some relief to American families by offering a clean, safe formula for their babies during these challenging times.

https://twitter.com/KristyC83940058/status/1530283871383605248

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356292 (281310ZMAY22) Notable: Australian killed in Ukraine remembered as a ‘larrikin’ and ‘battler’ - Father-of-three Michael Charles O’Neill, 47, who lived in Hobart, was killed on Wednesday while providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine following the Russian invasion

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Australian killed in Ukraine remembered as a ‘larrikin’ and ‘battler’

Pallavi Singhal - May 28, 2022

An Australian man who died this week amid fighting in Ukraine has been remembered as “a larrikin [and] always a battler”.

Father-of-three Michael Charles O’Neill, 47, who lived in Hobart, was killed on Wednesday while providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

“Always looking for a cause, he headed to Ukraine to drive trucks helping citizens flee the country,” his sister said online.

“He then assisted driving the wounded and injured from the front line, unfortunately meeting a sad end.”

She said O’Neill drove trucks for the mining industry before going to Ukraine.

O’Neill’s mother said he was killed when the Ukrainian army came under heavy fire in a war zone.

“Our family is grieving, and he has left a huge hole in our lives,” she said online.

“He left two daughters and a son so part of him is still with us. During his time [in Ukraine], he was awarded a commendation for bravery from the Commander of the Ukraine Army so he obviously made his presence felt ... Always loved and missed.”

In a death notice in the Hobart Mercury on Saturday, the family wrote: “We are all so proud of you, you did it your way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that O’Neill’s death was a tragedy.

“This is a tragedy and I want to give my condolences to the family of the person involved,” Mr Albanese said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was “providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian killed in Ukraine”.

“We send our deepest condolences to the family,” she said.

The department’s advice for Ukraine remains at “do not travel”, with the government advising that its ability to provide consular assistance is limited due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

A memorial will be held for O’Neill at the Kermandie Football Clubrooms in Hobart on June 18.

Russian troops began moving into Ukraine and bombing its cities in February. Fighting is ongoing, especially in the eastern Donbas region.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/australian-killed-in-ukraine-remembered-as-a-larrikin-and-battler-20220528-p5ap9q.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356338 (281324ZMAY22) Notable: José Ramos-Horta accuses Alexander Downer of ‘distorting’ issues around 2004 Timor-Leste bugging - President of south-east Asian nation says Australia used cover of ‘supposedly altruistic foreign aid program’ to spy on behalf of oil companies

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José Ramos-Horta accuses Alexander Downer of ‘distorting’ issues around 2004 Timor-Leste bugging

Exclusive: President of south-east Asian nation says Australia used cover of ‘supposedly altruistic foreign aid program’ to spy on behalf of oil companies

Christopher Knaus - 28 May 2022

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The president of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, has accused former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer of “avoiding and distorting” the issues around the 2004 bugging scandal, saying recent comments ignored the fact that Australia had spied “on behalf of oil companies and using the cover of Australia’s supposedly altruistic foreign aid program”.

On Thursday, Downer appeared on the ABC’s Q&A program and was questioned about the 2004 Australian Secret Intelligence Service mission to bug Timor-Leste’s government during sensitive talks to carve up oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Downer, who was foreign affairs minister at the time, took care not to comment directly on the operation, but said Australia’s intelligence practices were “no different from any of our other allied countries”.

“What our intelligence services do is collect intelligence,” he said. “That’s what they exist for. The suggestion that we somehow have intelligence services but they don’t collect intelligence is … is absurd.”

The comments have frustrated Timor-Leste, a partner in the Indo-Pacific, at a time when Australia is actively attempting to counteract Chinese government influence in the region.

Ramos-Horta told the Guardian that Downer was “obviously avoiding and distorting the core issue”.

The 2004 spy mission – later exposed with the help of intelligence officer Witness K and his lawyer, Bernard Collaery – was used to give Australia the upper hand in what were commercial negotiations about accessing oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, which a collection of resource companies, led by the Australian company Woodside Petroleum, were seeking to exploit.

The fledgling and impoverished ally was hoping access to the Timor Sea reserves would lay the foundations for its development.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356414 (281342ZMAY22) Notable: Video: China to consider funding new police training centre in Solomon Islands, will also help Samoa build a fingerprint lab to go with the construction of an already announced new police academy

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>>123753

China to consider funding new police training centre in Solomon Islands

Madison Watt and Stephen Dziedzic - 28 May 2022

China will consider building a police training centre in Solomon Islands, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi tours the Pacific in a bid to increase its influence in the region.

In addition to the possible new police training facility in the Solomons, China will also help Samoa build a fingerprint lab to go with the construction of an already announced new police academy.

Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele announced the proposal during his Chinese counterpart's visit to Honiara on Thursday.

"China… will further a consider a proposal… for a police training centre and support towards police infrastructure and assets given the country's fragile security environment," Mr Manele said during a press conference that was boycotted by local media.

China's Foreign Minister is currently on an eight-nation tour of the Pacific, during which he is seeking a sweeping regional deal on security and trade, ahead of a group foreign ministers meeting with 10 Pacific nations in Fiji on Monday.

Mr Wang met with Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa on Saturday and discussed regional priorities of climate change, COVID-19 and security.

After the meeting, Samoa's government released a statement announcing China would help build a new fingerprint laboratory in addition to the previously announced construction of a police academy.

Increase in police training support

The proposal for a Chinese-funded police training centre in Solomon Islands mirrors that of a 2020 promise to build a police school in Samoa, as China seeks to increase its influence in the region through police training support.

In March, Solomon Islands police published pictures of their officers brandishing replica assault rifles donated by the Chinese government, as part of a new police training program run by Chinese police.

At the time, there were questions over the legality of the shipment of the replica guns, as well as the future implications of such firearms training.

Experts and opposition politicians believe the move to bring in replica arms clearly suggested the police force was planning to bring in real weapons from China in the future.

Australian officials are also warning that China might encourage more brutal and confrontational tactics to put down local protests, inflaming existing political and ethnic tensions.

China seeks sweeping multilateral deal

Earlier this week, it was revealed China is hoping to strike a deal with 10 Pacific nations during Mr Wang's tour of the region.

The sweeping agreement covers everything from security to fisheries and is seen by at least one Pacific leader as an attempt by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by Beijing to 10 Pacific nations prompted pushback from the leader of the Federated States of Micronesia, who said it showed China's intent to control the region and "threatens regional stability".

News of the proposed deal follows last month's announcement of a new security pact between Solomon Islands and China, in a move that has concerned traditional regional partners such as the US and Australia, as well as intelligence officials.

That pact has raised fears that China could send troops to the island nation or even establish a military base there, not far from Australia.

Solomon Islands and China say there are no plans for a base.

Mr Wang's Pacific tour coincides with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong's own visit to the Pacific, meeting with Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama on Friday in her first official trip to the region since being sworn in last week.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-28/china-considering-funding-new-police-academy-in-solomons/101107682

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356449 (281347ZMAY22) Notable: China inks deal on economic technologies with Samoa during FM’s trip, welcomes partnership with Australia, NZ to help PICs - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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>>123753

>>123777

China inks deal on economic technologies with Samoa during FM’s trip, welcomes partnership with Australia, NZ to help PICs

Global Times - May 28, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa on Saturday - the third stop on Wang's visit to the Pacific region, with the two sides signing a cooperation agreement on economic technology and culture, according to a release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

During their meeting, Fiame, who is also the Foreign Minister of Samoa, said she had visited China many times and admired China's development path and the emphasis on a people-centered approach. She expressed hope to strengthen exchanges with China on economic development, especially on poverty alleviation.

Samoa firmly insists on the one-China principle and not interfering with China's internal affairs on the question of the island of Taiwan, Fiame said.

The Samoan Prime Minister also noted that cooperation with China in all sectors has produced noticeable achievements, helping Samoa to promote its infrastructure and agricultural technologies. Samoa will carry on promoting the bilateral partnership based on mutual respect, trust and benefit.

Wang praised the friendly exchanges between China and Samoa for half a century after the establishment of diplomatic relations and admired Samoa's insistence on the one-China principle to defend China's core interests.

China has always insisted that all countries no matter their sizes and strength are equal. As the biggest development country in the world, China has always stood with the developing countries and called on justice for them since China shared similar experiences throughout history and a common mission for development. China's such diplomatic tradition will never change, Wang said.

Wang also noted that China is willing to do all it can to help developing countries, including island nations in the Pacific to speed up developments, and during this process, China has never interfered with other countries' internal affairs, not attached political strings and has not pursued geopolitical interests. China is willing to achieve development and prosperity with developing countries and to make the world fairer.

Wang stressed that China's cooperation with developing and Pacific island nations does not target the third party nor will it seek exclusiveness. "We have no intention to compete with others and have always opposed a zero-sum game mindset," Wang said, noting that China is willing to strengthen communications with all countries that care for island nations, especially Australia and New Zealand and others, leverage each country's advantages and carry out more tripartite cooperation based on respect toward island nations.

Australia and the US are closely watching Wang's trip to Pacific island nations, trying hard to demonize China's cooperation with these countries.

The two sides also exchanged ideas on climate change. Wang stressed that China has set a China-Pacific Island nations cooperation center and is willing to help these countries to deal with climate change. He also urged developed countries to fulfill their commitment on carbon emissions.

Agreeing with Wang, Fiame also noted that climate change has become an importance field for Pacific island nations to cooperate with China and wished the cooperation center will play an active role.

The two sides also signed agreements on many fields including economic technologies and culture.

Wang also met with Samoa's head of state Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II on Saturday.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1266760.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356468 (281353ZMAY22) Notable: China’s FM visits the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati, where the future of a vast fishing ground is at stake.

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>>123753

China’s FM visits Kiribati, where fishing ground is at stake

NICK PERRY - 27 May 2022

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — China’s foreign minister on Friday arrived on the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati, where the future of a vast fishing ground is at stake.

The planned four-hour visit by Wang Yi was his second stop on an eight-nation tour that comes amid growing concerns about Beijing’s military and financial ambitions in the South Pacific region.

Kiribati closed its borders this year as it tries to stamp out an outbreak of COVID-19. But its government made a rare exception to allow Wang and his 20-strong delegation into the country for face-to-face discussions.

At stake in Kiribati is the future of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, a stretch of ocean the size of California that has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In November, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau announced the government planned to end the commercial fishing ban that had been in place since 2015 and begin to sustainably fish the area.

Anna Powles, a senior lecturer in security studies at New Zealand’s Massey University, said she expected there would be some fisheries agreements between China and Kiribati that would come from Wang’s visit.

Powles said China, which already dominates fishing in the region, had offered to upgrade an airport runway and causeway in the Phoenix Islands.

“The worry is that this would essentially obliterate the fish stock,” she said. “That it would severely damage fish stocks that are already under pressure.”

She said there were also concerns that any kind of base for Chinese commercial fishing fleets in Kiribati could also be used as an additional hub for Beijing’s surveillance activities.

Kiribati’s president said Wang would visit his residence for bilateral discussions during the visit, and emphasized the health protocols that were in place.

Maamau said in a statement that the Chinese delegation would need to take PCR tests before arriving and stay in a travel bubble while there, and that everybody in Kiribati who came into contact with them would need to quarantine afterward for a week — presumably including himself.

“The high-level state visit is an important milestone for Kiribati-China relations, as it will strengthen and promote partnership and cooperation between our two countries after the resumption of diplomatic ties in 2019,” Maamau said.

China says Wang’s trip to the region builds on a long history of friendly relations between Beijing and the island nations.

A draft document obtained by The Associated Press shows that Wang is hoping to strike a deal with 10 small Pacific nations during his visit. The sweeping agreement covers everything from security to fisheries and is seen by at least one Pacific leader as an attempt by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

Wang is hoping the countries will endorse the pre-written agreement as part of a joint communique after a May 30 meeting in Fiji with the other foreign ministers.

But Australia scrambled to counter the move Thursday by sending its own Foreign Minister Penny Wong to Fiji to shore up support in the Pacific.

In Fiji, Wong said it was up to each island nation to decide what partnerships they formed and what agreements they signed, but urged them to consider the benefits of sticking with Australia.

“Australia will be a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached nor imposing unsustainable financial burdens,” Wong said. “We are a partner that won’t erode Pacific priorities or Pacific institutions.”

On Friday, Wong met with Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last month in a move that sent shock waves around the world.

That pact has raised fears that China could send troops to the island nation or even establish a military base there, not far from Australia. The Solomon Islands and China say there are no plans for a base.

During his 10-day visit, Wang is also planning to make stops in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.

Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he’d sent Wong to Fiji because Australia needed to “step up” its efforts in the Pacific.

“We need to respond to this because this is China seeking to increase its influence in the region of the world where Australia has been the security partner of choice since the Second World War,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that in recent years, exchanges and cooperation between Beijing and the island nations had been expanding in a development that was welcomed by the Pacific countries.

https://apnews.com/article/china-new-zealand-beijing-wang-yi-9c1837ca76b55ce69a44d5dd69621b3b

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356495 (281359ZMAY22) Notable: Wang’s visit to Kiribati shows devt opportunities, injects firmness to one-China principle - Zhang Hui and Hu Yuwei - globaltimes.cn

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>>123753

>>123779

Wang’s visit to Kiribati shows devt opportunities, injects firmness to one-China principle

Zhang Hui and Hu Yuwei - May 27, 2022

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China and Kiribati underscored the remarkable achievements of bilateral cooperation in improving livelihood and economy of Kiribati since the two resumed ties in 2019, during Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to the South Pacific nation on Friday, vowing to further enhance cooperation in tackling climate change, COVID-19, and building Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) amid the US and Australia's intensified demonization of China's role in the region.

Wang's visit has injected more confidence and firmness in both the government and people of Kiribati for their historical decision to develop ties with China on the basis of recognizing the one-China principle, Chinese analysts said, noting more countries in the region will realize that developing ties with the world's second-largest economy will bring them unprecedented development opportunities to better integrate into global development, and will help them make independent decisions free of the Western countries' interference.

Wang arrived in Kiribati on Friday during an eight-nation tour in the South Pacific region. In a meeting with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, Wang said the president regarded China as a true friend as he received the Chinese delegation at his home.

But the US and its allies have focused their efforts on containing China's development with the essence of not wanting to see non-Western forces succeed in the world and the enhanced cooperation of developing countries, Wang said, noting no one and no force can stand in the way of the development and revitalization of China and other developing nations.

President Maamau said the nation unswervingly adheres to the one-China principle and the resumption in bilateral ties with China proved the world is on the side of China and Kiribati is on the right side of history.

On September 27, 2019, China and Kiribati resumed diplomatic ties.

The president said the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results and the livelihood of the people in Kiribati has improved, which strongly testified to China's sincere friendship.

The first batch of Chinese medical teams arrived in Kiribati along with the Chinese delegation to help the nation fight against COVID-19, and the two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation on tackling climate change, infrastructure, tourism and promote the BRI construction.

The broad cooperation deals between China and Kiribati did not contain a security deal or have any military significance that the US-led West had hyped, and analysts said it's the US that has been excessively focusing on the military value of the region but ignoring the needs of the local people.

Kiribati is of great strategic importance due to its location between Asia and America, and the US has long expected to develop it and other nearby countries into its military relay base and saw it as its sphere of influence, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times. He noted that that's why the US does not want to see any cooperation between China and the regional countries.

Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the Research Centre for Pacific Island Countries of Liaocheng University, told the Global Times on Friday that the US has built large military bases and even strategic missile bases in Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati is located right behind the three countries where US built military bases.

"If China sets up a military base in Kiribati, the US' first and second island chains would be meaningless," Yu said.

However, China's cooperation in the region was purely for the livelihood of local people which was deeply welcomed.

Ambassador of Kiribati to China David Teaabo told the Global Times on Friday that China is an "understanding, true and trusted friend," not a destabilizer in the Pacific as some have claimed.

Tinian Reiher, an honorable member of Kiribati parliament, told the Global Times that Wang's visit is highly expected to bring more concrete benefits.

"Many people are saying that we are allowing China to compete with the US and Australia. But in fact, we moved back to China because we believe that it is a wise move and in the best interest of our people and future development, given China's global influence as the fast-developing nation with huge economic wealth and power," Reiher said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356551 (281408ZMAY22) Notable: New Australian foreign minister Penny Wong’s rhetoric of leaving regional security to Pacific region shows hypocrisy, double standard - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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>>123753

>>123766

Wong’s rhetoric of leaving regional security to Pacific region shows hypocrisy, double standard

Global Times - May 28, 2022

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During her first solo trip in Fiji as new Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong outlined Australia's view of security in the Pacific following the signing of a security cooperation framework agreement between China the Solomon Islands, as well as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's tour of the Pacific island countries.

"We think that it is important that the security of the region be determined by the region," Wong said on Friday. She made a point. The thing is, the audiences of her remarks should be Australia itself and its ally, the US.

According to Wong's logic, regional security should be determined by the region itself, then why has Australia been so enthusiastic in carrying out the freedom of navigation operations with the US in the South China Sea, far away from their own regions? And why have both Australia and the US raised their voices in interfering in China's domestic affairs?

Think about Afghanistan, Iraq, the entire Middle East, South China Sea, the Taiwan question ... Australia has no right to intervene, and it has even less excuse to do so if taking Wong's statement into account, observers note.

Australia is not a Middle Eastern country, so why did it send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan? Australia is apparently not an East Asian country either, but Canberra and Tokyo sighed a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), a bilateral defense and security pact which, according to reports, facilitates faster deployment of Japanese Self-Defense Forces and Australian defense force personnel and eases restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies for joint training and disaster relief operations. Why is Australia promoting such military cooperation far away from its own land in East Asia?

What Wong wants to convey is not simply the literal meaning in her rhetoric about the local region, but geopolitical nuances. Wong has been stressing a new construct of a "Pacific family," meaning Australia, New Zealand, and South Pacific island countries are of an exclusive grouping. By saying so, she insinuates two connotations. First, China, which locates in Asia, is not a member of that "family", but should be regarded as an outsider. Australia attempts to drive a wedge between China and regional countries with such insinuation. Second, Australia tries to assume the role as the "head of the family," or in other words, the hegemon in the region, so as to impose its will on other "family members," Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told Global Times.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16356601 (281416ZMAY22) Notable: Why China’s Pacific sweet talk will fail - Beijing’s plan to corral ten Pacific Island countries into an exclusive grouping is a daring attempt to take control of the region - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au

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>>123753

Why China’s Pacific sweet talk will fail

Beijing’s plan to corral ten Pacific Island countries into an exclusive grouping is a daring attempt to take control of the region.

PETER JENNINGS - May 28, 2022

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Beijing’s plan next week to corral ten Pacific Island countries into an exclusive grouping, where China provides policing, cyber and security “assistance”, is a daring attempt to take control of the region.

The coup will fail. Most Pacific Island leaders are astute, patriotic and brave enough to resist Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s suffocating sweet talk. Pacific leaders will understand that Beijing’s money comes at the price of losing sovereignty, the support of their own people and their own self-respect.

China’s communist elite would more effectively dominate the region if they better hid their contempt for other countries. Well before starting his 10-­nation tour Wang had circulated the “concluded” outcomes of next Monday’s Pacific foreign ministers summit, and a five-year plan that will strengthen “co-operation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security”.

This is how Beijing operates. There is no pretence of a negotiation between equals. The Pacific Islands can have “harmonious relations” and “win-win outcomes” only if it ­follows China’s lead in every detail.

The communique released after the visit claimed that “the two sides exchanged in-depth views on state-to-state and military-to-military relations and on issues of mutual interest”.

We did nothing of the sort. Over a day of talks at Defence’s Russell Headquarters, the Australian side attempted to shape a plan for defence activities for the coming year. A decade ago the forlorn hope was that practical co-operation would make the PLA a more amenable partner.

We failed to get Guo to agree to defence activities designed to promote the rule of law in the region. The general dismissed any more discussion and with a chuckle pushed a piece of paper across the table. “This is what we’ll do.”

It was a list of highly stylised contacts, more photo opportunity than defence training or exercising. Military music featured heavily.

In time we would establish a “Military Friendship and Culture Week” to “demonstrate the growing relationship between the Australian Defence Force and People’s Liberation Army”.

In September 2013, the People’s Liberation Army Band arrived to play concerts with the Australian Army Band, showing “Australia and China growing understanding and friendship through music”.

It is easy to see when one is being treated with contempt. In Defence we all knew that the pretence of military co-operation with China was a sham.

Pacific leaders will know in their hearts that Beijing wants this agreement because the Pacific Islands are strategically valuable to the PLA. This has nothing to do with respect for Pacific people or a commitment to their interests.

Controlling the islands complicates American military access to the Western Pacific. That remains just as true today as it was in the Pacific War, when the US had to retake island groups in Melanesia and Micronesia as it fought closer to the Japanese mainland.

Xi Jinping’s aim is to weaken America’s dominant military position in the Pacific Ocean, weaken America’s allies and make contact between them harder.

Unlike in the South China Sea where Beijing literally built islands on which to establish military air bases and ports, in the Pacific there is no need to build islands when you can simply buy ones already there or, more accurately, co-opt some leaders with financial inducements, soft loans and lavish trips to China.

One Pacific leader has already dismissed Beijing’s proposed “comprehensive development vision”. The President of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, said the agreement would allow China to “acquire access and control of our region”.

The FSM is close to the US under a Compact of Free Association and not on Wang’s itinerary, but Panuelo’s concerns will be shared by numerous island leaders.

At best, Beijing’s summitry may yield a few Pacific Islands countries willing to sign up. That could fracture an already damaged PIC tradition of seeking regional consensus through extended negotiation.

Over the longer term I hope Beijing’s attempts to subvert the Pacific Islands will not be successful. Just like in Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere, the Chinese Communist Party fails to win many Pacific hearts and minds.

It is notable that when instability hits Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and elsewhere, it’s often the local Chinatowns which are unjustly put to the torch. Conservative churchgoing Pacific Islanders do not warm to the CCP and object to their own elites being compromised.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16361632 (291011ZMAY22) Notable: Embassy of The People's Republic of China in The Republic of Fiji - Statement by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Fiji on the China-Pacific Island Countries Cooperation

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>>123757

Embassy of The People's Republic of China in The Republic of Fiji

Statement by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Fiji on the China-Pacific Island Countries Cooperation

2022-05-27

Q: It was reported that, recently, the President of Federated States of Micronesia Panuelo sent a letter to the leaders of Pacific Island Countries on the “China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision” and “Five-year Action Plan”, saying that the draft should be rejected, which essentially binds all Pacific Island Countries to China together,will affect the sovereignty of Pacific Island Countries. What is Embassy’s comments on this?

A: Certain leader’s remarks on China-Pacific Island Countries (PICs) cooperation are a distortion of China's foreign policy and China-PICs comprehensive strategic partnership. The relevant words are completely inconsistent with facts, do not represent the mainstream views of PICs and are not conducive to the in-depth development of China-PICs relations. It cannot be ruled out that the remarks were instigated and manipulated by Western forces.

In developing relations and cooperation with PICs, China has always adhered to the principle that all countries are equal no matter of their sizes, treating each other with sincerity and pursuing shared interests which has achieved fruitful results, and are warmly welcomed by the governments and people of PICs.

The upcoming 2nd China-PICs Foreign Ministers’ Meeting aims to build consensus on promoting peace and development and coping with risks and challenges, deepen friendly exchanges and practical cooperation between China and PICs in various fields, and promote prosperity and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. The 2nd China-PICs Foreign Ministers’ Meeting has received positive response and universal support from PICs.

I would like to stress again that PICs are not someone's “backyard” and should become a big stage for international cooperation, rather than an arena for geopolitical games. China’s foreign policy is open and transparent, with no political strings attached, not targeting any third party, and not seeking any self-interests or so-called “spheres of infulence”. China has always been the constructive force for peace, development and cooperation.

I believe that people of insight in the Pacific region can distinguish right from wrong and identify who is their real friend and who are the troublemakers undermining regional peace, stability and development. Any attempt to defame China’s foreign policy or undermine relations between China and PICs is doomed to failure, and has no market.

http://fj.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/sgxw/202205/t20220527_10693738.htm

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16361649 (291025ZMAY22) Notable: More than 100 Australian Defence Force personnel will travel to Papua New Guinea in coming months to help the country conduct its national election, combat cyber threats and conduct joint exercises amid a growing tussle for influence between Australia and China in the region

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>>123753

More than 100 ADF personnel to be sent to PNG to help with election, cyber threats

Anthony Galloway - May 29, 2022

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More than 100 Australian Defence Force personnel will travel to Papua New Guinea in coming months to help the country conduct its national election, combat cyber threats and conduct joint exercises amid a growing tussle for influence between Australia and China in the region.

Following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Samoa on Saturday, the country’s government announced it had signed three deals with Wang, including an “economic and technical co-operation” agreement.

The details of the new deals are unclear, but it comes as Australia races to stop China from signing a new regional security deal with as many as 10 Pacific island nations following the controversial pact between Beijing and Solomon Islands.

Wang arrived in Solomon Islands last week on a 10-day tour of the Pacific that also includes visits to PNG, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and East Timor.

Wang is pushing a new regional security deal that would allow the Chinese government to provide high-level police training and security and data co-operation across the region.

China’s top diplomat said attempts by the United States and Australia to sabotage its security plans for the Pacific were “doomed to failure” as he arrived in Kiribati to forge ahead with plans for Chinese-built infrastructure in the island nation.

At the same time, Australia’s new Foreign Affairs Minister, Penny Wong, scrambled to Fiji this week in her first solo visit to another country, where she urged Pacific leaders to weigh up the “consequences” of accepting security offers from Beijing.

PNG will go to the polls in July, which will likely involve a contest between incumbent James Marape and former prime minister Peter O’Neill.

Australia’s closest neighbour has had issues with elections in the past; more than 200 people died in violent clashes during the election in 2017, and the result was heavily disputed.

A Defence spokesperson said Australia would support the PNG election at the request of its government.

This support will include air force, army and cyber personnel to help PNG with logistics and planning, including air lifts to help in distributing and collecting votes.

In addition, about 90 ADF personnel have travelled to PNG since March to conduct joint training exercises with the nation’s military, and more Australian soldiers will arrive in coming months to help with infantry skills and operations.

At the same time, Australia recently signed a new agreement with PNG to provide support to help the country better detect and fight cyberattacks. It will allow the two countries to more easily share information on cyber threats and help train cyber experts in PNG.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the “number, type and sophistication” of cybersecurity threats to Australia and the region were increasing.

“A variety of cyber-enabled means such as cybersecurity incidents and misinformation or disinformation campaigns can represent potential threats,” the DFAT spokesperson said. “We must engage internationally to advance and protect our shared interests.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366805 (300822ZMAY22) Notable: Video: David Littleproud elected to lead the Nationals in opposition after post-election leadership vote

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David Littleproud elected to lead the Nationals in opposition after post-election leadership vote

Kath Sullivan and Jake Evans - 30 May 2022

David Littleproud will lead the federal Nationals in opposition after a partyroom vote in Canberra.

Senator Perin Davey has been elected as deputy leader of the Nationals.

Mr Littleproud defeated incumbent leader Barnaby Joyce and former minister Darren Chester in a three-way contest to lead the party.

The leadership was determined at the first meeting of Nationals senators and MPs since the Coalition's election loss.

Mr Littleproud said it had been his dream to lead the party since he joined it as a six-year-old boy, 40 years ago.

"I believe passionately in the National Party … we are the conscience of rural and regional Australia right here in this parliament," he said.

"The National Party today starts its journey towards 2025, with a vibrant team, ready to articulate the policies that are important to regional and rural Australia, but also to draw on the experience of two former deputy prime ministers in Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, to build that bridge of unity and purpose, to make sure that regional and rural Australia isn't forgotten."

Deputy leader Senator Davey said the Nationals would act in the interest of regional Australia from opposition.

"We've got three years to make sure we hold the new government to account, and to make sure they don't forget the regions, and they don't sell us short by doing deals with other parties and other interests," she said.

"So, my focus with David is eyes on the future, and we will continue to build and continue to be a very strong voice for the regions."

In a statement, Mr Joyce congratulated the new leadership team, saying they had "a mighty task ahead of them".

"I suppose you think I am sad. Not really," he said.

"Now, I have a chance to get back to my second greatest love, after my family, and that is my beloved people of New England, where I will have more time to get around my electorate and to be a person of service to them."

Nationals won't abandon 'net zero' climate commitment

The Coalition saw swings against it in urban centres and across regional Australia, amid perceptions that the Nationals were reluctant to embrace action on climate change.

Former leader Mr Joyce was previously a vocal opponent of a 2050 goal for net-zero emissions, but led the Nationals into a net-zero agreement with the Liberal Party.

Mr Littleproud said the leadership vote was not about "lurching" left or right, but finding the "sensible centre", and he would uphold the net-zero commitment.

"We have made a sensible decision to be part of the global community; the global community asked us to sign up to net zero by 2050," he said.

The Nationals party room spills the leadership positions after every election.

It kept all 16 of its lower house seats at the election, but the majority of its MPs suffered swings against them.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-30/barnaby-joyce-out-david-littleproud-elected-to-lead-nationals/101109494

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366827 (300829ZMAY22) Notable: We’re turning to China because you neglect us, says East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta

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>>123775

We’re turning to China because you neglect us, says East Timor president

RICHARD LLOYD PARRY - MAY 30, 2022

China’s efforts to win over the South Pacific island nations are a warning to Australia and the West, which have neglected the region and bred resentment among its leaders, according to one of east Asia’s elder statesmen.

Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace prize winner who is president of the small nation of East Timor, will receive Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, at the end of his eight-nation tour of the South Pacific and southeast Asia.

On his first stop in the Solomon Islands this week Wang finalised a deal that will permit Chinese security forces to operate there, arousing anxiety in the US and especially in Australia, which regards the Pacific as its back yard.

Ramos-Horta, 72, said East Timor would not enter into any such security agreement with China — but he hopes, anyway, that China will invest as much as $AU 4.23 billion in a huge offshore oil and gas field, which Australia has so far failed to do.

Australia ‘wasted time lecturing’

“Why would the Solomon Islands seek out China for support in maritime security and for the police?” he asked The Times. “Maybe because the Solomon Islands’ closest neighbour, in this case Australia, has not responded to their need. Maybe their neighbour wasted time lecturing them on human rights instead of trying to help.”

Speaking from the capital, Dili, where he was elected president this month, Ramos-Horta added: “It’s a wake-up call. The islands in the Pacific have learnt how to play superpower rivalry to their benefit.”

He spoke as Penny Wong, Australia’s new foreign minister, embarked on a hastily arranged tour of her own, intended to woo Pacific leaders. “We want to be a partner of choice,” she said in Suva, the capital of Fiji. “We want to demonstrate to your nation and other nations of the region that we are a partner who can be trusted, who can be reliable. We want to work together as part of the Pacific family.”

Australia has confirmed that it will send defence personnel to the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea to help with an election in July.

Scramble for influence

During the Second World War bloody battles were fought between Japan and the US in the Solomon Islands and Palau for control of their air strips and harbours. In any future conflict between China and the US, they would have similar importance — hence the scramble for influence over them during a time of rising tension.

East Timor, which gained its independence from Indonesia 20 years ago, is part of southeast Asia, rather than the South Pacific, but it faces similar challenges in overcoming poverty, and low standards of healthcare and education.

Ramos-Horta won the Nobel peace prize in 1996 for his lonely campaign in exile for Timorese independence. He said that small nations faced a difficult balance in staying out of what looks to some like another Cold War. “I want the US and Australia to support us because they care about our people, because they care for peace and stability. I don’t want them to feel I’m blackmailing them by playing the China card.”

But when Wang visits Dili next week he is likely to be pressed for help in funding development of the Greater Sunrise offshore oil and gas field. Not everyone believes that the huge investment will bring sufficient returns.

If China steps in it will be a huge boost to East Timor. “I would hope that China will be a big investor,” Ramos-Horta said. “The sooner the better.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/were-turning-to-china-because-you-neglect-us-says-east-timor-president/news-story/e27f7269d2c6cee98dd548143bc10ee8

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366850 (300838ZMAY22) Notable: Fijian vow to hold the line on China influence - China’s aggressive bid to exert power in the South Pacific will meet strong resistance if Fiji’s former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka returns to office this year, with the two-time coup leader vowing to side with Australia as Beijing steps up its battle for dominance in the region

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>>123753

Fijian vow to hold the line on China influence

STEPHEN RICE - MAY 30, 2022

1/2

China’s aggressive bid to exert power in the South Pacific will meet strong resistance if Fiji’s former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka returns to office this year, with the two-time coup leader vowing to side with Australia as Beijing steps up its battle for dominance in the region.

The pledge comes as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives in Suva for a meeting of regional leaders on Monday, aiming to push as many as 10 Pacific nations to sign a new trade and security deal that has alarmed Canberra.

Mr Rabuka said Beijing’s ­attempt to tie security issues to trade agreements was dangerous.

“They’re trying to lure us into their camp,” he said. “I think we should be very cautious. The Australian alliance had been tested and this one would be relatively new with a lot of unknowns.”

“I would not be comfortable doing that, we have different systems and we would rather stick with our traditional system,” Mr Rabuka said.

Recent polling suggests Mr Rabuka could beat bitter rival and incumbent Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama at an election due by the end of the year, but possibly as early as July, either on his own or in coalition with the traditionally Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party, headed by economist Biman Prasad.

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad were in Sydney at the weekend for talks with expat ­Fijian leaders and to appear at a series of fundraisers.

Mr Rabuka said there was a real danger that Mr Bainimarama, now facing a domestic economic crisis, would accede to some of Beijing’s lucrative offers simply for his own political survival.

That might extend to selling critical areas of Fiji’s infrastructure such as airport and sea ports to Chinese interests, he said.

“They will think about that, and not just think, their hands are forced, they will have to do something like that but they should know that there are other ways of doing it,” he said, vowing to oppose any such deals. “We don’t want to sell our souls, that is tantamount to selling our soul.

“They are hoping to take over our fishing grounds and all those things. They will probably be ­offering us facilities to be able to police them better, so that they can use them more freely. In our case, I think we should be very, very cautious, very careful before we say yes. We would not want to put all that into the hands of a powerful fisherman. We’d like to keep it available for ourselves and the world.”

Mr Rabuka and Professor Prasad welcomed the new Labor government of Anthony Albanese. Mr Rabuka described Scott Morrison as a personal friend after many shared prayer breakfasts, but said that relationship had not led to closer official ties.

“I wish we could have extended the personal friendship into co-operation or even exchange of ideas, but we didn’t,” he said. “When the Solomons deal came out I felt that Australia was sleeping on the job, neglecting the region. I think it will be better potentially with a Labor government. They have a better understanding of the plight of these smaller states and our willingness to co-operate with Australia, so I hope they will take advantage of that.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366881 (300850ZMAY22) Notable: China, Pacific islands unable to reach consensus on security pact - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the Pacific region not to be "too anxious" about his country's aims after a meeting in Fiji with his counterparts from 10 island nations was unable to agree to a sweeping trade and security communique

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>>123753

>>123757

China, Pacific islands unable to reach consensus on security pact

Kirsty Needham - May 30, 2022

May 30 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged the Pacific region not to be "too anxious" about his country's aims after a meeting in Fiji with his counterparts from 10 island nations was unable to agree to a sweeping trade and security communique.

Wang hosted the meeting with foreign ministers from Pacific island nations with diplomatic ties with China midway through a diplomatic tour of the region where Beijing's ambitions for wider security ties has caused concern among U.S. allies.

A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by China to the invited nations ahead of the meeting showed China was seeking a sweeping regional trade and security agreement.

But the draft communique, first reported by Reuters, prompted opposition from at least one of the invited nations, Federated States of Micronesia, according to a letter leaked last week.

After the meeting, which included Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Niue and Vanuatu, Wang said the nations had agreed on five areas of cooperation, but further discussions were needed to shape more consensus.

The five areas he listed included economic recovery after the COVID pandemic, and new centres for agriculture and disaster, but did not include security.

"China will release its own position paper on our own positions and propositions and cooperation proposals with Pacific island countries, and going forward we will continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus on cooperation," he told reporters in Fiji. Questions at the media briefing were not allowed.

Wang said some had questioned China's motives in being so active in the Pacific islands, and his response was China supported developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean also.

"Don't be too anxious and don't be too nervous, because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world," he said.

Taking questions after Wang's briefing, China's Ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, said participants had agreed to discuss the draft communique and the five-year plan "until we have reached an agreement."

"There has been general support from the 10 countries with which we have diplomatic relations, but of course there are some concerns on some specific issues."

Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told reporters the Pacific nations were prioritising consensus.

"Geopolitical point-scoring means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job is being lost to the pandemic, or whose family is impacted by the rapid rise in the price of commodities," said Bainimarama.

In a written address to the meeting, China's President Xi Jinping said China will always be a good friend of Pacific Island countries no matter how the international situation changes, China's state-owned CCTV reported.

PACIFIC TOUR

Several invited nations want to defer action on the draft communique or have it amended, an official from one Pacific country earlier told Reuters.

The United States, Australia, Japan and New Zealand have expressed concern about a security pact signed by Solomon Islands with China last month, saying it had regional consequences and could lead to a Chinese military presence close to Australia.

The new Australian government has made the Pacific islands an early foreign policy priority to counter Beijing's push, despatching the foreign minister to Fiji with the message Australia would put new priority on the region's biggest security challenge of climate change and announcing a new visa programme to allow Pacific island citizens to migrate.

In Honiara last week, Wang condemned interference in the deal and said the Solomon Islands' relationship with China was a model for other Pacific island nations.

With borders closed across the region because of the COVID pandemic, most foreign ministers are attending the Fiji meeting by video link. In several Pacific countries, the foreign minister is also prime minister.

Wang will travel to the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga for a two-day visit on Tuesday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-hosts-pacific-islands-meeting-fiji-security-ties-focus-2022-05-30/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366904 (300856ZMAY22) Notable: China shelves plan to sign a regional agreement with Pacific island nations - Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China will instead release a position paper following a meeting with Pacific foreign ministers in Fiji on Monday

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>>123757

>>123789

China shelves Pacific regional agreement

Dominic Giannini - May 30, 2022

China has shelved its plan to sign a regional agreement with Pacific island nations.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been travelling to Pacific nations, and had planned to visit 10 countries in the two week blitz.

Mr Wang says China will instead release a position paper following a meeting with Pacific foreign ministers in Fiji on Monday.

“After meeting, China will release its own position paper on our own positions and propositions and cooperation proposals with Pacific island countries,” he said.

“Going forward, we will continue to have ongoing and in-depth discussions and consultations to shape more consensus on cooperation.”

Mr Yang also tried to disparage commentary about China acting nefariously in the region as it tries to increase its influence.

“Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous,” he said.

“The common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world.”

The wide-ranging deal was leaked last week and covered free trade and security cooperations, including areas such as police training, cyber security, maritime mapping and resource access.

Micronesia expressed opposition to the regional agreement according to a leaked letter, and had previously publicly expressed concern over the Sino-Solomons pact and what it would mean for the region’s security.

An official from Kiribati told Reuters the country wanted to focus on economic ties rather than a security deal.

Mr Wang says China will provide assistance to Pacific Islands without political strings.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says there remained a “consensus first” approach to regional agreements following the foreign minister’s meeting.

China’s ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, told reporters after the meeting, the draft communique and five year plan sent by China to Pacific nations would be shelved until an agreement was reached.

“”There has been general support from the 10 countries with which we have diplomatic relations, but of course there are some concerns on some specific issues,” he said.

“We have agreed these two documents will be discussed afterwards.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also visited Fiji at the end of last week after returning from the Quad meeting in Tokyo.

Australia and the United States expressed concerns about a Chinese security deal signed with the Solomon Islands and said any military base in the Pacific would be considered a “red line”.

The US has also stepped up its footprint in the Pacific, with its embassy in Solomons’ capital Honiara due to reopen.

Regional security and a more assertive China was one of the main focuses of the Quad meeting between the heads of Australia, the US, Japan and India when they met last Tuesday.

https://www.aap.com.au/news/china-shelves-pacific-regional-agreement/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366975 (300922ZMAY22) Notable: Video: Lawyers in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide move to subpoena the source code for the encrypted AN0M app - Lawyers representing alleged bikie chiefs, mafia members and drug kingpins are mounting legal challenges to the software at the heart of Operation Ironside – the encrypted AN0M app

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Lawyers in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide move to subpoena the source code for the encrypted AN0M app

Lawyers representing alleged bikie chiefs, mafia members and drug kingpins are mounting legal challenges to the software at the heart of Operation Ironside – the encrypted AN0M app.

Mitch Mott - May 30, 2022

Adelaide lawyers are mounting legal challenges to the software at the heart of the international crime sting Operation Ironside, which used the encrypted AN0M platform to intercept millions of messages before the app was shut down in June last year.

If successful, the legal move threatens to derail more than 100 cases before South Australian courts, as well as others interstate.

Defence counsel for South Australians arrested as part of the operation are leading the way, along with colleagues in Sydney and Melbourne, to subpoena the source code behind the encrypted app.

The lawyers argue that there is no way a court could be satisfied that what police said were decrypted messages from the app matched what had been typed in.

The Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) are fighting to prevent the release of the source code – invoking immunity and arguing it would not be in the public interest.

It is the latest in a string of legal manoeuvres aimed at discrediting millions of intercepted messages, which police allege show conspiracies to murder as well as the trafficking of vast quantities of drugs.

In South Australia, a challenge to the validity of the warrants used to intercept the messages is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court later this year.

In NSW, top appeals silk Bret Walker SC has been retained by a consortium of around 30 Operation Ironside accused who are also seeking to challenge the warrants.

Those challenges are aimed at the admissibility of large collections of messages which might have been intercepted unlawfully.

However, the latest tactic is aimed at the very origin of the messages – the AN0M platform itself.

It is understood the source code is likely to not even be in Australia, but rather be in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US.

Last week, Adelaide lawyer Dominic Agresta told the Adelaide Magistrates Court he would be seeking to challenge the legality and functioning of the AN0M platform.

Mr Agresta represents several Ironside accused whose charges range from conspiracy to commit murder, to the trafficking of huge quantities of cannabis and methamphetamine, both in South Australia and interstate.

Representing one of his clients, whose name is suppressed, Mr Agresta asked the court for a temporary stay of the prosecution and for the man to be released on bail because of the federal authorities refusal to hand over various documents, including the source code.

He said he, along with other defence counsel in Melbourne and Sydney, had requested disclosure of various documents from both the AFP and CDPP, including details of the inner workings of the AN0M app.

“The answer charge date is looming and we want these documents in relation to an application which could be made on that day,” he said.

“Effectively we are challenging the very basis for the AN0M application itself and these documents go to that.

“There has been a refusal to hand over details of the functioning of the app. We say we need those details because without them how can this court be satisfied that the decrypted messages are an accurate reproduction of the encrypted messages.”

John Clover, for the CDPP, said Mr Agresta and other lawyers needed to issue subpoenas to the AFP.

“It is the AFP’s claim of immunity and they need to be bought in as a party,” he said.

“Various documents have been identified as having potential relevance but also fall under claims of immunity.

“Just because they have potential relevance, not actual relevance, does not flow that it is exculpatory or helpful to (the accused).”

Claiming privilege over information allows a person or organisation to prevent it being presented to other parties in legal proceedings.

Public interest immunity is a type of privilege that is usually invoked by a government when it argues that disclosure of the information would do more harm than good.

Magistrate John Wells adjourned the hearing for a full argument and to allow the AFP to prepare its case against the release of the source code.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/lawyers-in-melbourne-sydney-and-adelaide-move-to-subpoena-the-source-code-for-the-encrypted-an0m-app/news-story/85c90469ec244c83e267679f0027e3d4

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16366989 (300927ZMAY22) Notable: SAS soldier recalled after puzzling evidence in Ben Roberts-Smith case - A witness codenamed Person 27 being recalled to testify in closed court

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>>123763

SAS soldier recalled after puzzling evidence in Ben Roberts-Smith case

An SAS soldier who gave evidence about a strange issue at the Ben Roberts-Smith trial has been brought back for one reason.

Perry Duffin - May 30, 2022

An SAS soldier, who testified for Ben Roberts-Smith about a puzzling war story, has been recalled to give more evidence behind closed doors in the marathon defamation case.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers over a series of articles in which they claimed he committed war crime murders in Afghanistan.

The Victoria Cross recipient denies each allegation and has been calling witnesses for over a month to testify in his case.

The court, on Monday, heard a witness codenamed Person 27 was now being recalled to testify in closed court.

He had been overseas until this weekend and the court had struggled to locate him - but he will now give evidence on Tuesday afternoon.

It‘s not yet clear if the public will learn what Person 27 is being recalled over - but the SAS soldier previously told the court Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers were behind a strange comment that has appeared in multiple court documents.

The court has heard claims Mr Roberts-Smith, at the end of 2012, ordered an Afghan special forces soldier to execute a detained civilian after the SAS discovered a weapons cache.

Some soldiers have claimed they witnessed the killing - others, including Mr Roberts-Smith, deny any such shooting took place.

Mr Roberts-Smith and four other SAS soldiers submitted outlines of evidence to the court that said Nine‘s allegation was wrong.

Their reason was simple and clear - an Afghan soldier, which Nine claims was also involved in the killing, was not working with the Australians at that time in 2012.

Person 27 was among those witnesses who said that particular Wakunish soldier, or “Waka”, had been removed from service because he shot a dog.

The bullet ricocheted and hit an Australian soldier in the rear, Mr Roberts-Smith‘s witnesses said in their outline of evidence.

But Person 27, speaking on the stand this month, told the court that the outline of evidence was incorrect.

The Wakunish soldier Mr Roberts-Smith‘s side accused of shooting the dog, known only as Person 12, had not been removed from service, the court has now repeatedly heard.

“Who first used Person 12’s name?” Nine’s barrister asked.

“Ben’s lawyers,” Person 27 responded.

Last month Nine‘s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, accused Mr Roberts-Smith’s witnesses of “colluding” to give false evidence that would make Nine’s allegation impossible.

Mr Roberts-Smith‘s legal team deny there was any collusion.

Person 27‘s evidence is expected to last just one day before the court prepares to hear from a high ranking SAS officer.

The officer, who cannot be identified, will give evidence on another mission in which Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith carried out war crimes.

The multi-year case is expected to close on Friday.

https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/sas-soldier-recalled-after-puzzling-evidence-in-ben-robertssmith-case/news-story/a38b5c367d54bb7fe5daff1f9eb358a8

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16367044 (300958ZMAY22) Notable: Q Post #1350 - If America falls, the World falls. God bless our brave fighting men & women. They deserve our deepest gratitude. Through their strength, and the millions of united Patriots around the World, we will succeed in this fight. Peace through strength. Now comes the pain. Q

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U.S. Embassy Australia Tweet

Memorial Day

Each year on the last Monday of May, Americans honor the men and women who have lost their lives in military service. We express our deepest gratitude for the courageous Americans who have given their lives in service to the United States. #MemorialDay

https://twitter.com/USEmbAustralia/status/1531079296004943874

—

Q Post #1350

May 12 2018 22:24:18 (EST)

If America falls, the World falls.

God bless our brave fighting men & women.

They deserve our deepest gratitude.

Through their strength, and the millions of united Patriots around the World, we will succeed in this fight.

Peace through strength.

Now comes the pain.

Q

—

>Thank you for your service.

>Understanding what's at stake.

>God bless each and every one of you.

>We will not fail.

>WWG1WGA!!!

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372849 (310814ZMAY22) Notable: Video: Anthony Albanese promises to lead more inclusive government in first speech to Labor caucus

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Anthony Albanese promises to lead more inclusive government in first speech to caucus

Georgia Hitch - 31 May 2022

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has used his first speech in front of his parliamentary colleagues to pledge that his government will do politics in a different, less divisive, way.

Mr Albanese was welcomed by the Labor caucus — which is the meeting of the Labor members of parliament — with cheers and applause, and choked back tears as he finished his speech by thanking his team for the "incredible honour" of being Prime Minister, saying it was "a big deal".

His speech also canvassed the success of the party's campaign, his vision for the next three years and his hope for re-election after that, but he did not reveal who would take what role in his ministry.

The government's frontbench will be officially sworn in on Wednesday morning.

The Prime Minister said he was serious about how the party would go about governing and implementing the policies it promised.

"We have an opportunity to shape the future from this position," he said.

"We need to change the way that politics operates in this country. We need to be more inclusive.

"We need to be prepared to reach out. We need to be prepared to engage on those issues. We can do that in this parliament."

Mr Albanese went on to say that reaching out needed to involve all Australians including multicultural communities, people of faith and the LGBTIQ community.

He said the election result was a rejection of the previous government's attempt to "wedge people" and cause division.

"We saw that during the election campaign, whereby some very vulnerable people were singled out … adding to their vilification," he said.

"We're a better country than that. We shouldn't do that ever. Ever."

The caucus meeting was also the first for a raft of new MPs, including a number from Western Australia where Labor experienced a significant swing toward it.

Mr Albanese used the opportunity to pay tribute to former senator Kristina Keneally and former shadow environment minister Terri Butler who both lost their seats at the election.

He also announced that parliament would return in the last week of July and that he would travel to Indonesia this Sunday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-31/anthony-albanese-caucus-meeting-new-government/101112802

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372869 (310820ZMAY22) Notable: ‘I won’t back down on Beijing’ - Peter Dutton says he won’t back away from his pre-election warnings about the dangers posed by China, declaring the country under President Xi Jinping’s leadership “is the biggest issue our country will face in our lifetimes”

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>>123758

‘I won’t back down on Beijing’, says Peter Dutton

BEN PACKHAM - MAY 30, 2022

Peter Dutton says he won’t back away from his pre-election warnings about the dangers posed by China, declaring the country under President Xi Jinping’s leadership “is the biggest issue our country will face in our lifetimes”.

The former defence minister campaigned heavily before the election on the security threats posed by China, and with Scott Morrison said deputy Labor leader Richard Marles was sympathetic towards Beijing.

The hawkish rhetoric cost the Coalition votes in seats with high numbers of Chinese speakers who flipped to Labor, including Chisholm in Victoria and NSW electorates of Reid and Bennelong.

Speaking after his elevation as Liberal leader on Monday, Mr Dutton said he did not resile from his comments on China “because I feel very passionately about this issue. I have had the benefit of the briefings in the National Security Committee and to be high-level in some circumstances as defence minister,” he said.

He said he wanted Australia to have a productive relationship with China – which slapped $20bn in punitive tariffs on Australian exports and refused to engage with Australian ministers – but said resolving the rift was “an issue for China”.

Ahead of the election, Mr Dutton warned Australians that to preserve the peace, the nation needed to “prepare for war”.

He said on Monday the warning was “realistic”, given Beijing’s stated intent to take Taiwan.

“I'm concerned that if they went into Taiwan, that would change quite dramatically the ­security settings within our own region,” Mr Dutton said.

The warnings came amid criticism of the Coalition’s failure to head off a Chinese security agreement with Solomon Islands, and slow progress in delivering new capabilities to the Australian Defence Force.

Prior to the campaign, Mr Morrison was forced to apologise to parliament after branding Mr Marles a “Manchurian candidate”.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said at the time that the politicisation of national security had been “not helpful”.

After the campaign, Mr Burgess’s predecessor, Major General Duncan Lewis, also criticised the Coalition’s rhetoric on China, ­saying that it had been “rather louder than we should have been”.

“We’ve been in the forefront of some of the criticism of states such as China, when we might well have been better to have been one back and one wide,” he said.

The Australian reported during the election campaign that Mr Marles had met with Chinese diplomats 10 times over five years, and had given a draft speech to the Chinese embassy in Canberra before delivering it on a 2019 trip to China.

Mr Marles said after the election that the Coalition’s claims he was too close to China were “a ­pathetic attempt to distract from their own failings”.

“What we saw here was an ­attempt to politicise issues of nat­ional security, of strategic policy, to create difference where it didn’t exist,” he said.

“And the reason for that was ­really to distract from the former government’s failings, particularly in handling our relations within our own region, with Solomon Islands in the Pacific.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/i-wont-back-down-on-beijing-says-peter-dutton/news-story/2c90b34c8bd6b42392364d4a495e2c60

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372884 (310825ZMAY22) Notable: China tries to calm Pacific fears after security snub - Pacific Islands leaders have rebuffed Beijing’s sweeping security and trade pact while calling on China – the world’s biggest polluter – to do more to address its “greatest threat”: climate change

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>>123757

China tries to calm Pacific fears after security snub

WILL GLASGOW - MAY 31, 2022

Pacific Islands leaders have rebuffed Beijing’s sweeping security and trade pact while calling on China – the world’s biggest polluter – to do more to address its “greatest threat”: climate change.

Xi Jinping’s top envoy Wang Yi said the region should not be “too nervous” about China’s intentions in the region in comments made after Beijing failed to get agreement for an ambitious security and trade proposal at a meeting of Pacific Island leaders in Fiji on Monday.

Mr Wang, China’s Foreign Minister, said concerns expressed by Canberra, Wellington and many of their Pacific Island partners were misplaced.

“Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous,” Mr Wang said in brief remarks in Suva.

Instead of signing on to Beijing’s agreement, Pacific Island leaders called on China to address climate change. “Being a true partner and friend to the Pacific requires urgent and deep climate change action,” said Henry Puna, Secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, on behalf of members.

“We call on China and our international partners to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions in line with the 1.5C pathway and net zero by 2050.”

Beijing has said it will not reach net zero until 2060 – a decade later than America, Japan, the European Union, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited Suva last week after a draft of Beijing’s sweeping agreement was leaked and said the new Albanese government understood the acute concern about climate change in the Pacific.

In a statement after Monday’s meeting, Senator Wong said it was “up to countries in the region to make choices for their people”. “The security of the Pacific is the responsibility of the Pacific family, of which Australia is a part,” she said.

China had proposed to radically increase its involvement in the security, economy and politics of the region. Ahead of Mr Wang’s visit, China proposed a pact that would see Beijing train Pacific Island police, become involved in cybersecurity, expand political ties, conduct sensitive marine mapping and gain greater access to natural resources on land and in the water.

Beijing also offered millions of dollars in financial assistance and the prospect of a China-Pacific Islands free trade agreement.

Federated States of Micronesia president David Panuelo warned the proposed agreement was “disingenuous” and would “ensure Chinese influence in government” and “economic control” of key industries.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said on Monday broad agreement would be needed before inking any “new regional agreements”. “As always, we put consensus first,” he said.

China’s Foreign Minister refused to take questions from the media, as has been the case at every stop on his unprecedented 10-day blitz in the Pacific. He is scheduled to be in Tonga on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media after his boss had left, China’s Ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, confirmed Pacific Island countries had not reached agreement on the Chinese proposal.

“There has been general support from the 10 countries with which we have diplomatic relations, but of course there are some concerns on some specific issues,” he said.

Dr Anna Powles, a senior lecturer in international security at New Zealand’s Massey University, said the outcome was an example of “astute Pacific statecraft”.

The shuttle diplomacy by Australia’s new Foreign Minister has underlined continuing structural tensions in Canberra’s relationship with Beijing. China’s party state media last week accused Senator Wong of “double standards, arrogant colonialism and imperialism” for her concern about Beijing’s outreach in the region. Government-affiliated Chinese foreign policy experts have reacted angrily to the Australian government’s use of the phrase “Pacific family”, which they say is used to exclude China.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/china-fails-to-ink-security-pact-with-pacific-nations/news-story/7663e5465f36a1f5bce9c5fad76e2407

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372900 (310831ZMAY22) Notable: Timing of Wang Yi visit to PNG ‘inappropriate’, say Former PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill and Opposition Leader Belden Namah - Two of Papua New Guinea’s most senior politicians have blasted the timing of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the country during its national election period, and warned Prime Minister James Marape not to sign any agreements while parliament was dissolved

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>>123784

Timing of Wang Yi visit to PNG ‘inappropriate’, says Peter O’Neill

BEN PACKHAM - MAY 30, 2022

Two of Papua New Guinea’s most senior politicians have blasted the timing of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the country during its national election period, and warned Prime Minister James Marape not to sign any agreements while parliament was ­dissolved.

Former PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill and Opposition Leader Belden Namah, said the visit was inappropriate and should have been delayed until a new government had been formed.

Their comments came after Mr Wang was forced to shelve a ­region-wide security and trade pact on Monday after Pacific Islands foreign ministers rejected the deal.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed the decision, declaring “the security of the Pacific is the responsibility of the Pacific family, of which Australia is a part”.

Mr O’Neill, who is considered a contender to return to the prime ministership, told The Australian that PNG’s foreign partners were aware of the election timeline, “and should respect the democratic processes of our country”.

“PNG welcomes our trading and diplomatic partners graciously but now is not the appropriate time for high-level state visits,” he said.

Mr Namah said the visit was “premature and irresponsible” now the election period was in full swing.

“It is not an appropriate time for Wang Yi to visit Papua New Guinea, when the writs have been issued and we are in the campaign period,” he told The Australian.

“Marape is only (leading) a caretaker government. He cannot commit the independent state of Papua New Guinea to any form of agreements, be they international or domestic.”

Mr Wang urged regional leaders not to be concerned about his ­country’s intentions in the region, after 10 Pacific counterparts had declined to support the sweeping trade and security agreement during a meeting in Fiji.

“Don’t be too anxious and don’t be too nervous,” Mr Wang said.

He added that co-operation with China would deliver “great harmony, greater justice and greater progress”.

China’s ambassador to Fiji, Qian Bo, later told reporters that the draft communique and five-year plan had been set aside “until we have reached an agreement”.

The rejection of the proposed deal follows an outcry from Australia and the US over a new China-Solomon Islands security pact, and a snap trip to Fiji by Senator Wong, who urged the region to stick with Australia as its “security partner of choice”.

“Australia will always work with the Pacific family to address shared security challenges, which is why we will boost support for Pacific maritime security and increase defence co-operation,” Senator Wong said on Monday.

“We want to bring new energy and more resources to the Pacific.

“And we want to make a uniquely Australian contribution, including through the culture we share and economic opportunities through our Pacific labour programs and permanent migration.”

Fiji's Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, said Pacific nations had put “consensus first”.

“Geopolitical pointscoring means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job is being lost to the pandemic, or whose family is impacted by the rapid rise in the price of commodities,” he said.

Mr Wang, who is on a diplomatic blitz of the region, is due to depart Fiji for Tonga on Tuesday and head to Vanuatu and PNG.

The Chinese embassy had been in talks with PNG officials about providing funding or equipment to support the country’s election ­security efforts, but Mr O’Neill said the offer of support had come too late.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/timing-of-wang-yi-visit-to-png-inappropriate-says-peter-oneill/news-story/f5ccaf0caef71c7fd6b0c09267fbdac1

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372930 (310840ZMAY22) Notable: Fiji’s ‘Rambo’ will take the fight to Xi Jinping - China’s aggressive bid for influence in the Pacific will depend in part on the outcome of an epic struggle for power between Fiji’s rival strongmen: Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and Sitiveni Rabuka, instigator of two military coups in 1987, and later democratically elected as prime minister from 1992 to 1999

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>>123788

Fiji’s ‘Rambo’ will take the fight to Xi Jinping

China’s aggressive bid for influence in the Pacific will depend in part on the outcome of an epic struggle for power between Fiji’s rival strongmen.

STEPHEN RICE - May 31, 2022

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The last time a Chinese delegation arrived at Fiji’s Grand ­Pacific Hotel it was to beat up a Taiwanese official in the ballroom for daring to host a celebration of his country’s National Day.

But that was 18 months ago, a lifetime in the world of international relations.

This week, the Chinese came in peace – or what now passes for it in the Pacific – with Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s hefty entourage occupying much of the hotel as Beijing’s island-hopping charm offensive hit town.

It was all smiles at reception, the previous unpleasantness having been quickly swept under the (slightly blood-stained) carpet when the two Chinese embassy thugs were granted diplomatic immunity by a Fijian government anxious to avoid trouble.

Beijing may not have pulled off its desired regional agreement but it was always going to find a receptive audience in Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s much-diminished Republic of Fiji. In his 15 years in power, the one-time navy commander has become increasingly reliant on friends in Beijing.

Former Bainimarama media adviser Graham Davis recounts an experience at a reception one evening at State House in Suva when the Prime Minister shocked the gathering by telling the then US ambassador Judith Cefkin “You’re not a true friend of Fiji. See that guy over there” – pointing to the Chinese ambassador – “he’s a true friend of Fiji.”

Now Fiji finds itself suddenly at the forefront of Beijing’s largesse, as the superpower stretches its muscle in the South Pacific.

It could not have come at a better time for Bainimarama.

The rugby fanatic who took power in a military coup in 2006 but reinstated democratic rule to Fiji presides over a ruined economy and a fractured nation. The country is $5bn in debt and almost totally reliant on a tourist industry that was in trouble even before Covid wiped out large parts of it.

For Beijing, Fiji is ripe for the plucking. But for many Fijians, the government of Bainimarama is also on the nose. And many are now considering what might once have seemed unthinkable: a return to Fiji’s archetypal strongman, former soldier Sitiveni Rabuka, instigator of two military coups in 1987, and later democratically elected as prime minister from 1992 to 1999.

The coups led to a mass exodus of the country’s Indo-Fijians; the prime ministership delivered only a partial redemption.

This year’s election will be a clash of sworn enemies in what is likely the last roll of the dice for both men. A win would not just be a remarkable turnaround for Rabuka – and his country – but a nasty blow for China. The wily Rabuka is far more cautious about Beijing’s push into the Pacific than his hated adversary Bainimarama, who calls him “the snake”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372962 (310851ZMAY22) Notable: China, Pacific Island nations expand cooperation at second FMs’ meeting covering poverty alleviation, climate change and agriculture - China respects local countries in signing cooperation, but could be sabotaged by few politicians used as US pawns - Zhang Hui, Liu Caiyu and Shan Jie - globaltimes.cn

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>>123757

>>123789

China, Pacific Island nations expand cooperation at second FMs’ meeting covering poverty alleviation, climate change and agriculture

China respects local countries in signing cooperation, but could be sabotaged by few politicians used as US pawns

Zhang Hui, Liu Caiyu and Shan Jie - May 30, 2022

1/2

One year since the first virtual foreign ministers' meeting between China and the Pacific Island nations, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi took a historic trip to eight regional countries and jointly chaired the second foreign ministers' meeting in Fiji on Monday, during which China and the countries reached a new consensus to deepen cooperation on sectors including poverty alleviation, climate change and agriculture.

Chinese analysts believed that any cooperation between China and the Pacific Island nations is conducted on the basis of respecting the countries and their people, and the cooperation will never be imposed on them like some Western countries do. They said that even for some joint document that is not yet finalized, which is a normal process for bilateral relations, China will respect regional countries and continue the discussions.

But they also pointed out that a few people in these countries, under the pressure and coercion of the US and former colonizer, may be willing to serve American interests at the cost of their national and people's interests.

At the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Monday, Wang announced that China will continue to jointly build six new cooperation platforms with regional countries on sectors including poverty alleviation, disaster prevention, climate change and agriculture. The meeting was attended by foreign ministers of China, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands and Tonga, as well as secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum online and offline.

China and the Pacific Island countries reached a five-point consensus at the meeting, which include deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership, upholding true multilateralism and pursuing common development and prosperity.

Wang said facts proved that China's cooperation with Pacific nations conforms to the trend of the times, benefits the people in the region, and has bright prospects, and China will continue to listen to the voices of the regional countries and their people, respect the current cooperation mechanism of the region and support other countries to increase investment in promoting regional development and carry out three-party or four-party cooperation.

The foreign ministers from the regional countries said they support the Belt and Road Initiative, will continue to firmly pursue the One China policy and look forward to working with China to expand cooperation in various fields and improve infrastructure and people's livelihood.

China also released a 15-point position paper on mutual respect and common development with Pacific Island countries, including jointly promoting regional peace and security and cracking down on transnational crimes, such as cyber crimes, and tackling COVID-19 and strengthening people-to-people exchange.

As for some people who questioned why China was actively helping the South Pacific nations, Wang urged them not to be over anxious and nervous about it, as the common development and prosperity of China and other developing countries will make the world fairer, more harmonious and more stable.

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a written speech at the meeting, in which he said China remains committed to the equality of all countries regardless of size, and will always be a good friend, a good brother and a good partner of Pacific Island countries no matter how the international landscape evolves.

Chinese analysts said that the meeting showed China's assistance to and cooperation with the regional countries are truly for the benefit of local people, as China's help has never been interrupted even after changes in local governments.

Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times that the second meeting, which was held in Fiji, went further than the first virtual one on deepening existing cooperation and exploring new fields, and the holding of the meeting was a success for the two sides.

Fiji is the fourth leg of Wang's tour to the South Pacific island nations, which will also take him to Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, as well as Timor-Leste. Before arriving in Suva, Wang visited the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16372987 (310900ZMAY22) Notable: China's foreign minister visits Tonga after Pacific islands delay regional pact

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>>123753

China's foreign minister visits Tonga after Pacific islands delay regional pact

Kirsty Needham - May 31, 2022

May 31 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday signed agreements in Tonga for police equipment and fisheries cooperation on a tour through the Pacific islands region where Beijing's ambitions for wider security ties has caused concern among U.S. allies.

Pacific island nations were unable to reach consensus in a meeting with Wang a day earlier over a sweeping regional trade and security pact China has proposed.

In Tonga, Wang signed several bilateral agreements with Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and also visited King Tupou VI at the Royal Palace, Tonga's government said in a statement.

"Both meetings focused on mutual respect and the common interest of the people of China and Tonga," it said.

Agreements between the two countries' disaster management agencies and for China to provide a police laboratory and customs inspection equipment as well as a memorandum on the "blue economy" would assist Tonga's long-term development, it said.

Sovaleni "conveyed Tonga’s gratitude to China with the relief assistances offered after the volcanic eruption ... and tsunami".

Tonga, which was hit by a volcanic eruption and tsunami in January, owes two-thirds of its external debt of $195 million to China's Export-Import Bank, its budget shows.

Australia and New Zealand are its biggest donor nations, highlighting the squeeze some Pacific islands face as geopolitical tensions between China and U.S. allies ratchet up.

In the aftermath of the eruption, Australia and New Zealand coordinated allies in a relief operation involving defence flights and naval vessels. China also sent aid and equipment on commercial and naval vessels in a highly publicised relief effort.

Tonga appointed the first Australian as police commissioner this month, and has declined to comment on whether it supports a regional policing pact with China.

On Monday, a virtual meeting hosted by Wang in Fiji with counterparts from 10 island nations deferred consideration of a sweeping agreement spanning policing, security, fisheries, data and a free trade zone, proposed by China.

A draft communique and five-year action plan was leaked ahead of the meeting, amid criticism the deal would bind the nations closely to China, and raise geopolitical tensions with the United States.

Despite their small populations and economies, each Pacific state represents a vote at international forums such as the United Nations. They also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean and access to a region with strategic military significance.

Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa was among the island nation leaders who called for a delay, and wants major decisions on the region to go through the Pacific Islands Forum group, Samoan media reported on Tuesday.

"We have not made a decision as we did not have enough time to look at it," Samoan news service Talamua quoted Fiame as saying, in a speech also released by her office on social media.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-foreign-minister-visits-tonga-after-pacific-islands-delay-regional-pact-2022-05-31/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16373021 (310920ZMAY22) Notable: China, Tonga are examples of ‘building a community with shared future’, long-term Chinese investments dwarf US, Australia - Long-term Chinese investments dwarf US, Australia - Li Xuanmin - globaltimes.cn

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>>123801

China, Tonga are examples of ‘building a community with shared future’, long-term Chinese investments dwarf US, Australia

Long-term Chinese investments dwarf US, Australia

Li Xuanmin - May 30, 2022

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Chinese enterprises' humanitarian aid to South Pacific island nation Tonga in the face of natural disasters and the pandemic has demonstrated the genuine friendship between China and South Pacific countries and given the world an example of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Chinese businesses said, amid Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's ongoing visit to the region.

Such aid, coming in an active and timely manner and manifested not only in medicine and food but also in long-term personnel and resources, dwarfs offerings from Australia and the US, which deemed the region as their "backyards" and a battlefield for influence, with their investment largely driven by geopolitical factors rather than addressing the interests of local communities, observers said.

"When a volcano erupted in January, our South Pacific subsidiary quickly communicated with local staffers in Tonga, and mobilized our teams in Fiji and Vanuatu to purchase relief supplies. We consulted with and expanded material transport channels to the Tongan government to ensure that supplies were sent to the island country as quickly as possible," recalled a spokesperson of China Civil Engineering Construction Corp (CCECC).

In addition to CCECC, other Chinese state-owned enterprises and local Chinese chambers - in line with the aid from the Chinese government - were also offering humanitarian help to the best of their capacities at that time.

Immediately after the volcanic disaster, the Red Cross Society of China provided $100,000 in humanitarian aid to Tonga, and the Chinese government gathered emergency supplies, including drinking water and food, through the Chinese Embassy in Tonga. It was the first batch of relief supplies the island country received after the natural disaster.

"When the disaster-relief assistance arrived at the Tongan port, our staffers helped Tongan government officials, quickly completing unloading, secondary packaging, and transporting within two days despite stormy weather and adverse sea conditions," a spokesperson from CCECC told the Global Times over the weekend.

He added that Chinese enterprises "always stand in the frontline with local community," as also exemplified by aid after Tonga's encountering two hurricanes in 2015 and 2020, when Chinese firms actively helped in reconstruction and relief efforts, sharing the fate of the local community and solidifying friendship between the two countries.

The 14th Bureau of China Railway Construction Corp, which has dozens of infrastructure projects in South Pacific countries, also donated emergency aid including drinking water, food, tents, electric generators and life-saving equipment to Tonga after the volcanic disaster, a spokesperson of the company told the Global Times.

"Extreme situations such as disasters and the pandemic show the importance of 'building a community with a shared future for mankind,' which corresponds with the global mainstream consensus of peaceful development and win-win cooperation between countries," the spokesperson said, adding that the firm donated anti-virus supplies worth more than1 million yuan ($150,200) to a number of South Pacific nations.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16373148 (311006ZMAY22) Notable: Crown Resorts hit with $80m fine by Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission over use of China Union Pay cards to illegally transfer funds from China

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Crown Resorts hit with $80m fine by VGCCC over use of China Union Pay cards

JARED LYNCH - MAY 30, 2022

Crown Resorts has been slapped with a record $80m fine from the Victorian gaming regulator over the use of Union Pay cards to illegally transfer funds from China.

But the blockbuster fine – on top of separate action from the financial crimes regulator, Austrac, which alleged Crown broke money laundering laws more than 500 times – could have been higher.

The new Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission knocked $20m off the maximum penalty of $100m, citing good behaviour. But VGCCC chair Fran Thorn warned the group could face further penalties over casino law breaches.

It comes as Crown shareholders overwhelmingly backed an $8.9bn takeover from Blackstone, despite the US private equity giant yet to gain approvals from casino regulators in three states.

Rival Star Entertainment has been accused of similar conduct, with the NSW Bell inquiry hearing that the company disguised almost $1bn in gambling transactions as hotel charges.

Gambling is illegal in China and Union Pay (CUP) cards cannot be used for that purpose. Furthermore, individuals in China can only exchange $US50,000 worth of currency a year.

Ms Thorn said: “While Crown deserved some credit for its cooperative approach to the disciplinary proceedings, the record $80 million fine was appropriate and necessary because of the seriousness of Crown’s illegal conduct.

“Crown’s CUP process was a clandestine, deliberate process, which not only breached the Casino Control Act but was also devised to assist patrons to breach China’s foreign currency exchange restrictions.

“Crown was aware of the risk that the CUP process could be illegal but decided to run that risk. In doing so, it showed no regard for upholding its regulatory obligations. Indeed, it went to some lengths to hide what it was doing.

“Crown benefited handsomely from its illegal conduct. The fine will ensure that Crown is stripped of the revenue it derived from the CUP process and will send a clear message that it must comply with its regulatory obligations.”

Section 68 of the Casino Control Act bans Crown from using debit or credit cards to obtain gambling chips. This aims both to avoid gambling derived from criminal funds, and to support responsible gambling and minimise harm.”

“During these disciplinary proceedings it became apparent that, in addition to the CUP process, there were other mechanisms that persisted after 2016 that enabled cards to be used to access cash at Crown Hotels, which was then potentially used for gambling,” Ms Thorn said.

“Consideration of these transactions did not form part of the current disciplinary proceedings, and Crown Melbourne considers these transactions do not contravene the Casino Control Act. The VGCCC has decided to undertake its own investigation into these transactions and form its own view about whether further breaches have occurred in the period after 2016.

“The VGCCC is also considering further disciplinary proceedings against Crown related to the other findings of the Royal Commission, which may each attract a fine of up to $100m.”

In a statement, Crown said it acknowledged “its historical failing”.

“The China UnionPay process ceased in 2016. Upon becoming aware of this historical conduct, Crown’s Board immediately commissioned an independent investigation and shared the findings with the Victorian Royal Commission, the (VGCCC’s predecessor) and other regulators,” the company told shareholders.

“Crown’s Board and senior management are committed to the delivery of a comprehensive reform and remediation program to ensure Crown delivers a safe and responsible gaming environment and continues to co-operate with the VGCCC on all matters arising from the Victorian Royal Commission Report.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/crown-resorts-hit-with-80m-fine-by-vgccc-over-use-of-china-union-pay-cards/news-story/4720369e1669ae2477b989959fda5d14

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16373172 (311013ZMAY22) Notable: Star Entertainment Group is not suitable to hold a casino licence, say lawyers for NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority inquiry following allegations of money laundering, links to organised crime and fraud at the Pyrmont casino

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>>123803

Star not suitable to hold casino licence, say lawyers for inquiry

Lucy Cormack - May 31, 2022

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The Star Entertainment Group is not suitable to hold a casino licence, lawyers for an inquiry say, arguing the embattled group is yet to fully grasp what went wrong across its organisations.

More than seven weeks of hearings probing Star’s Sydney casino licence have exposed serious failures in risk management and governance that touched the highest echelons of the company and its board.

The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority launched the review before Adam Bell, SC, last year following revelations by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes of alleged money laundering, links to organised crime and fraud at the Pyrmont casino.

In her closing submission to the review on Tuesday, counsel assisting the inquiry Naomi Sharp, SC, claimed the revelations raised serious concerns about Star’s susceptibility to criminal influence and exploitation.

“We submit that the evidence in the public hearing establishes that The Star is not suitable to hold the casino licence and that its close associate Star Entertainment is not suitable either,” she said.

“The casino licence is a privilege. And it is a privilege, which confers upon the holder of that licence an ability to earn very substantial revenues”.

She said a casino operator must ensure gaming is conducted honestly, with control over its potential to cause harm to the public interest, individuals and families.

The inquiry follows that of former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin last year, which found Crown Resorts unfit to hold a casino licence in NSW, blocking it from opening gaming floors in its $2.2 billion Barangaroo resort.

Bergin’s inquiry triggered a Victorian royal commission into Crown’s Melbourne casino licence, which it retained under strict conditions.

The Star inquiry has examined allegations it gave free rein to its major “junket” VIP tour partners and disregarded anti-money laundering procedures to avoid China’s strict capital flight and anti-gambling laws.

The casino also refused to hand over to the financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC a damning 2018 KPMG audit that found it was failing to tackle money laundering.

In 2013 international VIP gaming revenue at The Star was about 30 per cent of overall gaming revenue, growing to 33 per cent by 2018 before declining.

The inquiry heard Star’s attempt to gain a share of the international VIP market was a reaction to the competitive threat of Crown obtaining a licence for Barangaroo in 2014.

Sharp on Tuesday argued the casino group was “only at the beginning of its journey about what has gone wrong” within its organisations.

“There has not yet been the period of deep reflection, which of course will be necessary in order to develop a concrete plan about [what] can bring these corporations into a position of suitability,” Sharp said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16373206 (311030ZMAY22) Notable: Australian Embassy, USA Tweet: The Embassy is closed today, Monday 30 May in observance of #MemorialDay. If you are an Australian citizen requiring consular assistance at this time, please call the Consular Operations Center in Canberra from the US on +61 2 6261 3305. - Sunrise over Iwo Jima Memorial photo, Marine Corps War Memorial - gordonklau instagram

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>>123793

Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Tweet

This Memorial Day, we join our American friends in paying tribute to the lives & legacies of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving their country & we honour their courage.

https://twitter.com/A_Sinodinos/status/1531311125828186113

—

Australian Embassy, USA Tweet

The Embassy is closed today, Monday 30 May in observance of #MemorialDay. If you are an Australian citizen requiring consular assistance at this time, please call the Consular Operations Center in Canberra from the US on +61 2 6261 3305.

(Photo by) ig/gordonklau

https://twitter.com/AusintheUS/status/1531244532398006272

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8wY-t9hhUM/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379259 (010855ZJUN22) Notable: China wanted a swift diplomatic victory in the Pacific. But the region's leaders won't be rushed

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>>123757

>>123797

China wanted a swift diplomatic victory in the Pacific. But the region's leaders won't be rushed

Stephen Dziedzic - 1 June 2022

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Henry Puna has had a torrid time of it recently.

In 2020, the former Cook Islands Prime Minister won a tightly contested and acrimonious ballot to take on the leadership of the Pacific's top regional body, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and promptly found himself in the middle of a political hurricane.

PIF split apart almost immediately, leading to laborious and often painful negotiations as Pacific officials — with assistance from Australia and New Zealand — try to salve wounded egos and hammer out a compromise that will keep Micronesian countries in the big tent.

The secretary-general's fate is likely to be finally resolved — one way or another — at the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting, which is loosely pegged to be held in the middle of next month, in Suva.

Micronesian leaders have already publicly declared they expect him to walk away from the job and hand it over to one of their candidates, which leaves Puna publicly humiliated and exposed.

But if Puna is a dead man walking, he did not look like that this week.

In fact, he looked very much like a man with something urgent to say.

Pointed remarks with cameras rolling

The stage was a big one. Late on Saturday, all eyes swivelled to Suva as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi landed in Fiji's capital, his fourth stop on an island-hopping tour covering no fewer than eight Pacific Island countries.

His trip came the same week as new Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong touched down in Fiji and pledged to listen to Pacific leaders.

She revealed she would be heading back to the Pacific on Wednesday night, meeting with leaders in Samoa and Tonga "to renew and strengthen Australia's deep ties of friendship and family" and to discuss what further help Australia can offer to Tonga after a disastrous underwater volcanic explosion earlier this year.

Wang's first publicly advertised engagement was with Mr Puna at the PIF Secretariat the next day.

The visit had a somewhat perfunctory air. China is a Dialogue Partner with PIF, but the brute reality is that Beijing is impatient to bypass the regional organisation, and has moved quickly to set up its own direct dialogue with all Pacific Island countries it has ties with.

China talks a lot about consensus, but has done very little to seek it.

Right now, its diplomats are in a hurry, with no time for navigating the careful (sometimes torturous) processes of negotiation and consensus building at the core of PIF.

So it was hard to escape the feeling that Wang's Sunday PIF stop off was a bit of a courtesy call, a polite nod to Pacific regionalism before the Foreign Minister got down to the real business of meeting with Fiji's Prime Minister and regional heavyweight Frank Bainimarama, as well as playing host and impresario for the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

The Chinese officials shepherding Wang through the Secretariat certainly weren't treading carefully.

When they saw the ABC's cameraman positioned to film the greeting, they objected loudly and angrily, arguing the visit was limited to Chinese and Fijian media only.

One minder even placed herself directly in front of the ABC's camera.

PIF's impressive media representative, Lisa Williams-Lahari, (not a woman who is easily intimidated) had to rather forcefully remind them that they were visitors rather than hosts, and that PIF — not China — was setting the rules for media.

Fijian journalists also backed in the ABC in an impressive display of solidarity.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379269 (010900ZJUN22) Notable: US, Western media deliberately blind to China-Pacific Islands cooperation - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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>>123797

>>123806

US, Western media deliberately blind to China-Pacific Islands cooperation

Global Times - May 31, 2022

On May 30, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Fijian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama co-chaired the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Suva. At a joint press availability after the meeting, Wang said that the success of the meeting can be summarized in a five-point consensus including deepening the two sides' comprehensive strategic partnership.

However, Western media selectively ignored these fruits but focused on the joint document that was not finalized, saying China "falls short" on cooperation with Pacific island countries. Such reports only reflected the zero-sum mentality of some Western elites who see every diplomatic move of China through a geopolitical lens.

It is quite normal for cooperation documents between China and Pacific island countries to come up for more consultations. This is just a normal stage in bilateral cooperation. Many international multilateral documents require lengthy discussions before they are finally signed, Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told Global Times.

"The West spares no efforts to say that China 'fails' and 'falls short' in a bid to smear China's diplomacy, portraying a scenario that appears China's diplomacy doesn't work well," Chen said. But no matter how hard they hype China's "setback," they cannot disguise the fact of the US and Australia's diplomatic failure in the region.

Western media's coverage of Wang's trip has shown the West's zero-sum mentality to the fullest. The West believes that if China "wins," that means a loss of the West; but from China's perspective, whether cooperation can be a win-win result matters.

The West focuses on the "security pact," but in a distorted way. China's cooperation with Pacific island countries aims to boost local governance. But the West says it is about military; and this is nothing but a move to pave way for hyping the "China threat theory." The West wishes to pile more pressure on Pacific island countries this way and mislead them to doubt, even reject cooperation with China, so that they can exclude China in the region and realize their zero-sum goals.

Some observers were quoted by Western media as outlining China's so-called "global ambitions" and China's "embarrassment." Such analyses apparently misinterpret China's diplomacy for the sake of smearing. Wang emphasized that the cooperation between China and Pacific island countries aims to "make the world fairer, more harmonious and stable." The consultations for consensus on cooperation between China and local countries demonstrate China's full respect for Pacific island countries to achieve this goal.

"China is willing to listen to Pacific island countries and does not seek to impose anything on them. This is in sharp contrast to Australia's previous efforts to block cooperation between China and those nations," Chen noted. "Although Australia stresses respect for the decisions of regional nations, such 'respect' is entirely based on double standards."

"When Australia exerts its influence over these countries, it does not respect their ideas. Even the new foreign minister, on a visit to Fiji, openly said there would be 'consequences' for Pacific island countries which cooperate with China. This was a blatant threat," Chen said.

As Wang advised, when seeing cooperation between China and Pacific island countries, some people should not "be too anxious or nervous." Forcing Pacific island countries to make a choice with a zero-sum game mentality while ignoring their interests will only hurt those countries' interests, let alone respect them.

China has set an example of policing cooperation with the Solomon Islands and countries like the Philippines and Italy outside the region, Chen said, noting that actions speak louder than words. It is believed the development of cooperation between China and Pacific Island countries will dispel the doubts of all parties and let them witness the benefits of security cooperation with China for social stability.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1267088.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379287 (010909ZJUN22) Notable: GT Voice: Western media in no position to judge FM’s South Pacific trip - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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>>123797

>>123806

GT Voice: Western media in no position to judge FM’s South Pacific trip

Global Times - May 31, 2022

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As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi continues a remarkable eight-country tour throughout the South Pacific, Western officials and media outlets have spared no efforts in coming up with different narratives to smear and disrupt what should be normal official exchanges between sovereign states. The latest line of attack apparently accepted by almost all major Western media outlets is that the trip has failed to achieve its goals.

Some examples: In an article on Tuesday, Reuters claimed that "China [and] Pacific islands unable to reach consensus on regional pact." "China suffers setback as Pacific nations spurn broad deal," a Bloomberg article claimed on Tuesday. "China falls short on big Pacific deal," asserted an Associated Press report.

First and foremost, Wang's unprecedented trip to the South Pacific underscores China's confidence in expanding pragmatic win-win cooperation in the region, regardless of what the US and its allies think or do. Any attempt by the US or Australia to undermine such cooperation will be countered. Also, a main goal of the trip, like any official visits, is to discuss with regional partners about ways of boosting cooperation and listens to their actual needs. In that sense, it is not up to Western media outlets to judge the outcome of the talks. The fruits of the trip will eventually grow in the years ahead.

Such assertions are grossly inaccurate on multiple levels. Firstly, any fair deal between two or more parties must go through negotiations among all the parties. And such negotiations take time and efforts from all parties. How can carrying out that necessary negotiation process in a professional and respectful manner be a failure? Perhaps, the US and its allies have long been used to bullying others into signing deals on their terms that their politicians and reporters no longer know how agreements are reached properly?

Anyway, that's not how China conducts exchanges with other countries. Chinese officials, including Wang, have repeatedly stated that they will not impose anything to others. In spite of the relentless slander from Western politicians and media outlets, China actually respects other countries' choices when it comes to their own development paths and works to find areas of common interests focused on win-win cooperation. China's ever-strengthening trade and economic cooperation with South Pacific island nations in recent years, which have clearly made the US and its allies jealous and nervous, should be sufficient to attest to that.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379294 (010914ZJUN22) Notable: China warns Anthony Albanese not to repeat the “mistakes” of his predecessor Scott Morrison, saying it will come “at the cost of the whole region”

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China warns Anthony Albanese not to repeat Scott Morrison’s ‘mistakes’

China has warned Anthony Albanese not to repeat the “mistakes” of his predecessor, saying it will come “at the cost of the whole region”.

Frank Chung - June 1, 2022

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Chinese state media has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “recalibrate” Australia’s stance towards Beijing, warning that repeating Scott Morrison’s “mistakes” will come “at the cost of the whole region”.

The Communist Party-owned China Daily published an editorial on Wednesday describing Labor’s election win as a chance for Australia to “adjust its China policy”, while hitting out at former defence minister and “ardent China-basher” Peter Dutton’s elevation to Liberal Party leader.

The editorial said Mr Albanese stood on “common ground” with Mr Dutton for claiming “China had changed, not Australia” before “hotfooting it to participate in the Quad summit with the leaders of the US, Japan and India”.

“Which means although the election has created the chance for Australia to adjust its China policy, the space is quite limited, as both the ruling and opposition parties blame the souring bilateral ties on China,” it said.

“Nonetheless since they also appear to agree that the relations between the two countries should be restored and productive, there is still an opportunity to review the damage caused by the previous government’s blind support of the US’ China containment policy, which was the root cause of the souring of relations between Beijing and Canberra. Beijing has always kept the door for dialogue and co-operation with Canberra open.”

China Daily said Mr Albanese “should give serious thought to the choice between repeating his predecessor’s mistakes and acting as a mediator between the US and China”.

“The former means it will turn the country’s largest trade partner and major investor into a rival at the cost of the whole region, while the latter would raise Australia’s profile on the world stage, turning it from a US lackey to a responsible global stakeholder,” it wrote.

The comments echoed a similar editorial in the state-run Global Times last month, which said Mr Albanese’s election “provides a turning point for the China-Australia relationship which is currently at a low ebb”.

“It can be said that in recent years Canberra has provided the world with a negative example of how to deal with China,” it said.

“Even Australia’s neighbour, New Zealand, of which China is also its largest trading partner, has advised the Australian Government to show due respect to China.”

The Global Times said there was “no fundamental conflict of interests between China and Australia, nor are there any major historical feuds”.

“A sound economic and trade relationship with China is one of the most important foundations of Australia’s prosperity, and the Indo-Pacific region’s peace and stability is also where Australia’s lie,” it said.

“Canberra often acts in line with Washington’s playbook and assumes Washington’s role in how it thinks about its China policy, but in fact Australia’s national interests are quite different from those of the US.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379302 (010918ZJUN22) Notable: Chance for Canberra to recalibrate stance - Li Yang - chinadaily.com.cn

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>>123809

Chance for Canberra to recalibrate stance

LI YANG, China Daily - 2022-06-01

Despite the federal election showing that the two primary concerns of the Australian public are climate change and inflation, former Australian defense minister Peter Dutton, who became the new leader of the Liberal Party after the party's recent election defeat, claimed that China is the "biggest issue our country will face in our lifetimes".

An ardent China-basher, Dutton was called an "idiot" by former prime minister Kevin Rudd after airing "hairy-chested" comments about China.

This seems to have prompted him to make his voice just one of many. He said that the "biggest issue" assessment is one shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and India, and to take a seemingly conciliatory line, "I want us to have a productive relationship with China. I want it to be restored", although he put the onus on China to mend relations.

In that, he stands on common ground with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said that China had changed not Australia, before hotfooting it to participate in the Quad summit with the leaders of the US, Japan and India.

Which means although the election has created the chance for Australia to adjust its China policy, the space is quite limited, as both the ruling and opposition parties blame the souring bilateral ties on China.

Nonetheless since they also appear to agree that the relations between the two countries should be restored and productive, there is still an opportunity to review the damage caused by the previous government's blind support of the US' China containment policy, which was the root cause of the souring of relations between Beijing and Canberra.

Beijing has always kept the door for dialogue and cooperation with Canberra open.

The Albanese government should give serious thought to the choice between repeating his predecessor's mistakes and acting as a mediator between the US and China.

The former means it will turn the country's largest trade partner and major investor into a rival at the cost of the whole region, while the latter would raise Australia's profile on the world stage, turning it from a US lackey to a responsible global stakeholder.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202206/01/WS6296a2aca310fd2b29e601c6.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379305 (010921ZJUN22) Notable: Pressure on Anthony Albanese to stick to his word on Julian Assange

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>>123764

Pressure on Anthony Albanese to stick to his word on Julian Assange

Latika Bourke - June 1, 2022

Government MP Julian Hill has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stick to his principles and encourage the United States to drop its extradition of Julian Assange.

When opposition leader, Albanese declared Assange’s incarceration in the United Kingdom – pending his extradition to the United States, where he faces spying charges – had gone on long enough and he wanted him freed.

Asked during Tuesday night’s press conference if he would match his rhetoric as opposition leader now he is prime minister and encourage the United States to drop the charges, Albanese said “my position is that not all foreign affairs is best done with the loud hailer”.

Government backbencher Julian Hill, a member of the bipartisan Bring Julian Assange Home parliamentary group, on Twitter attacked the use of “weasel words”.

“I hope one of the first acts of our new cabinet will be to speak up for our fellow citizen and demand the US government drop the shameful prosecution of Julian Assange,” he wrote.

“Loudly and clearly, no weasel words.”

He told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age the new government must stand clear and firm on its principles.

“Diplomacy may be quiet or loud but in this case, it’s the results that matter – Assange’s life is at stake. He should not be deported and the charges should be dropped,” he said.

“I’d hope our new government will have something clear and firm to say regarding the principles of press freedom.”

Albanese’s office has been contacted for comment.

Assange’s Australian human rights lawyer in London, Jennifer Robinson, reiterated her plea for the Australian government to use its influence to request the United States let Assange “come home”.

She saw Assange on Tuesday and said his health “continues to deteriorate in prison”.

“We call on the Albanese government to do what previous Australian governments have not: to do the right thing for free speech, for human rights and for this Australian citizen.

“To protect Julian Assange and let him come home.”

The WikiLeaks founder is in Belmarsh Prison and is set to learn his fate within the next three weeks, when the UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel is due to decide whether to order his extradition to the United States per instruction by the British courts.

The former Trump administration first pursued Assange and charged him under the espionage act, for offences relating to the theft of classified cables and documents that WikiLeaks published online.

The request for his extradition from the United Kingdom, where he spent seven years claiming asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy to evade extradition to Sweden, has continued under the Biden administration.

Assange argues he is a journalist, a claim the courts in Britain have rejected. He has been in prison ever since he was kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2019 and his health has deteriorated while in custody.

A spokeswoman for the UK Home Office said Patel had around three more weeks to decide whether to order his extradition to the United States.

“The Court has, on 20th April, decided to send the case of Julian Assange to the Home Secretary for her decision on whether to order his extradition to the US,” the spokeswoman said.

“He is wanted in the US to face charges relating to computer misuse and the unauthorised disclosure of national defence information.

“The Home Secretary is required to make a decision within two months of the day the case is sent,” the spokeswoman said.

In January, Mark Dreyfus, now attorney-general, cited Assange’s health and said the then-Morrison government should encourage the US government to “bring the matter to a close”.

“Given his ill health it is now time for this long-drawn-out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end,” he said, on behalf of the Labor opposition, at the time.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pressure-on-anthony-albanese-to-stick-to-his-word-on-julian-assange-20220601-p5aq3j.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379313 (010926ZJUN22) Notable: US President Joe Biden says New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s leadership ‘critical’ as US tackles mass shootings

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Biden says Ardern’s leadership ‘critical’ as US tackles mass shootings

Farrah Tomazin - June 1, 2022

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Washington: US President Joe Biden has enlisted the help of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in his attempts to tackle gun violence and online-fuelled extremism after this month’s mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo.

As America mourned the victims of the attacks, Biden met with Ardern at the White House on Wednesday (AEST) to discuss the tragedies, along with climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific.

“Your leadership has taken on a critical role in this global stage - it really has - galvanising... the global effort to curb violence, extremism, and online, like what happened in Christchurch,” Biden told Ardern, noting the sweeping gun bans and tech-platform policies New Zealand introduced after that massacre three years ago.

“I want to work with you on that effort, and I want to talk to you about what those conversations were like, if you’re willing.”

The Christchurch attack took place in March 2019, when an Australian white supremacist shot dead 51 worshippers at two mosques and livestreamed the carnage on the internet.

Following the incident, New Zealand banned almost all semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, and the country has also sought to counter terrorism and violent extremism by identifying content online and collaborating with tech platforms to remove it.

US policymakers, on the other hand, are once again at loggerheads after two mass shootings in as many weeks.

The first took place on May 14 when 18-year-old gunman Payton Gendron, inspired by the Christchurch attack, opened fire at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighbourhood in Buffalo and livestreamed his attack, which killed 10 people and wounded three others.

The second took place 10 days later when another 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, shot dead 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in the South Texan town of Uvalde.

The tragedy was the worst school mass since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a decade ago, when Biden was vice president in the Obama administration.

“I’ve been to more mass shooting aftermaths than I think any president in American history, unfortunately,” he said as he addressed Ardern in the Oval Office ahead of a private meeting that lasted more than an hour.

“Much of it is preventable and the devastation is amazing.”

In response, Ardern gave the president New Zealand’s “sincere condolences”, telling him: “Our experience, of course, is our own, but if there is anything that we can share that would be of any value, then we are here to share it.”

“Well, the work you’re doing with tech companies is really important and I want to work with you there as well,” Biden answered.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379319 (010929ZJUN22) Notable: Bridging submarine ‘capability gap’ is top priority in defence, says Australia‘s new Defence Minister Richard Marles

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Bridging subs ‘capability gap’ is top priority in defence, says Marles

BEN PACKHAM - JUNE 1, 2022

Australia‘s new Defence Minister Richard Marles says bridging the “capability gap” between the retirement of the Collins-class submarines and the arrival of the AUKUS nuclear-powered boats is his top priority in the role.

Potential options to plug the gap include a “Son of Collins” interim submarine, more Hobart-class destroyers, or even buying into the United States’ B-21 bomber program.

Mr Marles claimed the capability gap would be up to two decades long, and addressing it would be “pretty well the number one agenda item in this portfolio”.

“What we saw under the former government was a gap of 20 years open up in terms of capability in relation to our submarines in just ten years,” he told Sky News.

Former defence minister Peter Dutton gave the green light to ten-year “life-of-type-extensions” to all six Collins-class boats, the first of which would commence in 2026 and be completed in 2028.

The first of the upgraded Collins would retire in 2038, with the remaining boats leaving service every two years after that.

But even the most optimistic estimates put delivery of Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarines at 2040 at the earliest.

Former submariners have also warned that without more submarines earlier, the navy will be unable to train the extra crew members needed to operate the larger and more complex nuclear boats.

Mr Marles told ABC radio: “I don‘t for a second pretend this is not going to be a really difficult issue. It is. And I don’t have all the answers right now on day one, but this is a key focus.”

He said the Albanese government would stick to its promise to maintain Defence spending at 2 per cent of GDP, and was committed to the former government’s $270bn procurement pipeline.

“What you will get from Labor is a much more considered spend and a much smarter spend, so that we actually get bang for the buck that we've committed,” Mr Marles said.

Swedish submarine manufacturer Saab Kockums, which built the Collins, is offering a “Block 2” Collins-class, which it says would be largely the same as an upgraded Collins bat bit with a hull that would last another 30 years.

But Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mike Noonan, said embarking on another submarine build on top of the nuclear boats would be unfeasible.

“Introducing an interim submarine, I think, would bring more challenges than it would capability and it would seem inconceivable that a small navy such as ours could viably operate a transition of Collins, to an interim, to a nuclear,” he said.

Mr Dutton also ruled out the option.

“It is not in our national interest to pretend we can have a third class of submarine — somehow, we can buy it off the shelf,” Mr Dutton told the National Press Club during the election campaign.

“I want someone to explain to me where this shelf is, because I don't know”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bridging-subs-capability-gap-is-top-priority-in-defence-says-marles/news-story/cc3c6c74b469ef02ba39ed667cac82a9

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379329 (010936ZJUN22) Notable: Bec Judd takes Bayside crime fight to Daniel Andrews - Businesswoman Bec Judd has declared she won’t be silenced when it comes to standing up for her Brighton community over escalating crime

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Bec Judd takes Bayside crime fight to Daniel Andrews

CARLY DOUGLAS - JUNE 1, 2022

Businesswoman Bec Judd has declared she won’t be silenced when it comes to standing up for her Brighton community over escalating crime.

While the mother of four’s fears for the safety of her community were brushed off by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Ms Judd, the wife of AFL great Chris Judd, doubled down on her concerns about crime on Tuesday.

“I’m glad my voice has shone a light on the escalating aggravated burglaries in Bayside,” she told The Australian.

“We are thankful for low non-aggressive crime rates, the increasing nature of home invasion-type crimes in our local community is what makes residents, particularly women, feel unsafe.

Operation Ibis was launched by Victoria Police on Tuesday last week to target the wave of youth offenders committing crime in the area. A total of 14 offenders have been arrested and charged so far.

Over the past year, her affluent Bayside community has been subjected to a string of violent crimes, many at the hands of teenage boys unknown to the community, including a series of violent home invasions in recent months.

The community witnessed a 10-year high in aggravated residential burglaries last year with 105 recorded – four times that of 2014, according to Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency.

Ms Judd is the co-founder of activewear brand Jaggad.

Following a series of aggravated burglaries, as well as a string of media reports detailing attacks on children in local parks last year, the concerned mum posted to Instagram: “So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of gangs in Bayside. The state government don’t seem to care. We feel unsafe.”

The Premier brushed off her comments as “sweeping assessments”.

“I’m not interested in having an argument with Ms Judd … I’m also obliged to point out, though, I think there are more than 70 additional police in the Bayside area, and the most recent crime statistics released by an independent agency would not support those sweeping assessments about patterns of crime,” he said.

Victoria Police confirmed the deployment the Premier was referring to had occurred across the Southern Metro Division in 2018, ending in 2021.

In March 2021, media reports highlighted the rape of a 16-year-old girl in a park after a party was crashed by a group of males who located it through Snapchat.

Only a few weeks later, three teenage boys were robbed and assaulted in neighbouring Sandringham by a group of male youths.

The incident was followed by the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy after he was confronted by 20 youths unknown to him and his friends in a Brighton park, and the assault of two 10-year-old boys by a group of teens carrying knives.

Ms Judd said in her social media post that recent home invasions have left the community, especially women, feeling “unsafe.”

Last week, a gang of teenage boys armed with knives attempted to steal the car of an 83-year-old Brighton man. Over the weekend, two boys aged 13 and 14 broke into a nearby property as a family slept and stole two cars.

Aggravated burglaries in the Bayside area, three of which occurred in a single week last month, numbered in the 90s in 2020 and 2021. Victoria Police linked the increase on population growth and an increase in Melburnians being inside their homes during the pandemic.

However, the numbers in Bayside show the two greatest spikes in aggravated burglaries in the past decade occurred between 2014 and 2015 when the number skyrocketed from 26 to 61, and 2018 and 2019 when a 53 per cent increase saw a rise from 64 to 98.

In neighbouring Glen Eira, residential aggravated burglaries remained relatively stable over the same period, while Port Phillip’s 2017 spike has since declined, despite greater population growth in both LGAs. Crime statistics for 2022 are expected to be released this month.

Local Area Commander Inspector Cath Wilkins said while the area had “seen a number of serious incidents recently, Bayside remains an overwhelmingly safe place to live”, assuring that police are regularly patrolling local streets throughout the evening.

While Inspector Wilkins acknowledged that there “has been an increase in offences recently”, she noted that communities were “coming off record lows due to the pandemic”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/bec-judd-takes-bayside-crime-fight-to-daniel-andrews/news-story/8166a2956eaead0cefb6ee090f30145e

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16379348 (010945ZJUN22) Notable: Senior SAS officer backs Ben Roberts-Smith on a key piece of evidence

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>>123763

Senior SAS officer backs Ben Roberts-Smith

Greta Stonehouse - June 1, 2022

A senior SAS soldier who will likely be the final witness to testify in the protracted defamation trial launched by Ben Roberts-Smith has backed the war veteran on a key piece of evidence.

The serving elite soldier dubbed Person 81 began his evidence in the Federal Court on Wednesday nearly a year after the trial began.

He had risen through the ranks to captain and was heading the patrol to a Taliban compound known as Whiskey 108 in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province in 2009.

He ordered the patrol commanders to clear the compound after Australian troops had dropped a series of 500-pound bombs on it.

After the infrastructure had been "significantly destroyed" Person 81 entered and distinctly recalls an Afghan woman was sweeping, and body parts among rocket paraphernalia.

And while he does remember a secret tunnel was found, he is unsure of where he was and how he was told.

Defence barrister Arthur Moses SC, representing Mr Roberts-Smith, asked if anyone informed him if Afghan fighting-aged males were found inside the tunnel.

"No," he said.

The Victoria Cross recipient is suing for defamation The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over 2018 reports claiming he committed war crimes in Afghanistan including murder, and acts of bullying and domestic violence.

The 43-year-old denies all claims of wrongdoing, while the mastheads are defending them as true.

The newspapers allege two men did willingly surrender from hiding in the tunnel at Whiskey 108, and were subsequently taken prisoner by Australian forces.

The war hero is accused of throwing one of the men who had a prosthetic leg onto the ground and opening fire on his back

"It was an exhibition execution, he wanted people to see he was going to kill someone out there in front of everyone," another soldier dubbed Person 24 previously told the court.

Another former SAS soldier testified that Mr Roberts-Smith forced the other prisoner to kneel and ordered his younger colleague to shoot him.

But the captain at the time denies ever seeing fighting-aged males coming out of the tunnel, nor did he see any prisoners taken captive.

And nobody in his troop told him unlawful activity had occurred that day, he said.

"What would you have done (if they had)?" Mr Moses asked.

"I would have reported it," he said.

Most of Person 81's evidence on Wednesday was concealed behind a closed courtroom.

He is due to resume his testimony on Thursday morning when the trial before Justice Anthony Besanko resumes.

Lifeline 13 11 14

Open Arms 1800 011 046

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.openarms.gov.au/

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/crime/senior-sas-officer-backs-ben-roberts-smith-c-7017587

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384621 (020859ZJUN22) Notable: Penny Wong announces eight-year partnership with Samoa, donation of new patrol boat

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>>123753

>>123806

Penny Wong announces eight-year partnership with Samoa, donation of new patrol boat

Joshua Boscaini - 2 June 2022

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced a new eight-year partnership with Samoa to help address human development in the Pacific island nation, as well as a new maritime patrol boat for the country.

The human development and social inclusion partnership will tackle the country's most "critical" challenges, Ms Wong said from Samoa's capital Apia.

She also revealed Australia will next year donate a Guardian-class patrol boat to Samoa, after the country's Nafanua II ran aground on a reef in August 2021.

"We do understand how important these maritime assets are to island nations," Ms Wong told reporters at the joint press conference.

Samoa launched a commission of inquiry after the two-year-old vessel ran aground, and has since left a big hole in the country's maritime surveillance capabilities.

Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa welcomed the foreign minister's announcement and said the new vessel would be critical to protecting the Pacific nation's maritime security.

"I think it's very generous on the part of the Australian government and people that they are gifting us yet another patrol boat despite the unfortunate circumstances of our last boat," Ms Fiame said.

On climate change, Senator Wong said Australia was committed to reducing emissions and the new government was "elected with a mandate to do so".

"I want to be very clear that we are deeply committed to taking stronger action on climate," Ms Wong said.

Senator Wong's visit to Apia coincided with the 60th anniversary of Samoa's independence, and was her second visit to the Pacific as Foreign Minister after being sworn into office nine days ago.

She travelled to Fiji last week to spruik the new government's renewed focus on climate change and support for continued aid for the region before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was set to arrive in the country.

After visiting Samoa, Senator Wong will head to Tonga to meet with Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku and Foreign Minister Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu, where it's expected they'll discuss further aid for the archipelago that was struck by a volcanic eruption and tsunami.

Fiame says region needs to consider China's proposals together

Ms Fiame rebuffed claims Samoa had signed a Pacific-wide agreement with China and stressed that Pacific island nations needed to agree on any region-wide proposals before agreeing to them.

Her comments came as Mr Wang visited the region this week to spruik a region-wide deal with 10 Pacific nations, including Samoa, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

Pacific leaders walked away from the wide-ranging security, free trade, police cooperation and disaster resilience proposal after they couldn't reach a consensus decision.

Ms Fiame said her country's position was that Pacific nations cannot agree to an agreement if all involved nations hadn't had an opportunity to discuss it.

"To be called in to have the discussion and have the expectation that there would be a comprehensive decision or outcome was something that we could not agree to," Ms Fiame said of China's proposed agreement.

"I think that the region has come to that conclusion, that we need to meet as a region to consider any proposal that is put to us by our development partners that requires a regional agreement."

Federated States of Micronesia's President David Panuelo warned Pacific nations before Mr Wang's visit that the agreement could spark a new Cold War.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-02/penny-wong-visits-samoa-tonga-pacific/101119512

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384628 (020905ZJUN22) Notable: Tonga discusses debt with China, Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong to visit

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>>123753

>>123806

Tonga discusses debt with China, Australia’s Wong to visit

Kirsty Needham - June 1, 2022

SYDNEY, June 1 (Reuters) - Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong will travel to the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga on Friday, days after her Chinese counterpart visited and discussed Tonga's heavy debts to Beijing, Tonga's government said.

Wong will also visit Samoa for its 60th anniversary of independence celebrations, in her second visit to the Pacific islands since being sworn into office last week, her office said. The trip comes as China's foreign minister Wang Yi continues an eight-nation tour of the region, and the United States and its allies express concern about Beijing's ambitions for security ties.

Wong said Australia wanted to listen to Pacific leaders.

"We will increase our contribution to regional security: we understand that the security of the Pacific is the responsibility of the Pacific family, of which Australia is a part," she said in a statement.

Tonga's Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni earlier said six agreements had been signed with China's Wang on his trip to the capital Nuku’alofa, with his office confirming discussions were held about Tonga's loans from China.

Tonga, which was hit by a volcanic eruption and tsunami in January, has external debt of $195 million or 35.9 percent of its GDP, of which two-thirds is owed to China's Export-Import Bank, its budget shows.

Debt repayments to China spike in 2024, on a loan used to rebuild its central business district after riots in 2006.

Australia and New Zealand are its biggest donor nations, the budget also shows.

VANUATU VISIT

China's Wang arrived in Vanuatu on Wednesday, where Vanuatu broadcaster VBTC said he met with Prime Minister Bob Loughman at the 1,000-capacity convention centre gifted by China in 2016, to sign agreements and discuss bilateral and international issues.

Other major infrastructure projects China has funded in Vanuatu include its parliament, a highway, a tuna processing plant and a large wharf.

On Monday, a virtual meeting hosted by Wang in Fiji with counterparts from 10 island nations deferred consideration of a sweeping agreement spanning policing, security, fisheries, data and a free trade zone, proposed by China.

China has since released a position paper on "Mutual respect and common development with Pacific Island Countries", listing a range of topics it wants included in a multilateral agreement.

Several Pacific nations have said any regional pact with China would first need to be discussed in the Pacific Islands Forum, a group which also includes members that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan not Beijing, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

U.S. President Joe Biden and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern aired concerns about China's bid to expand its influence in the Pacific on Tuesday.

Biden said Washington had no desire to dictate to the region but to partner with them. "We have more work to do in those Pacific islands," he said.

Despite their small populations and economies, each Pacific state represents a vote at international forums such as the United Nations. They also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean and access to a region with strategic military significance.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-foreign-minister-travel-tonga-friday-tonga-government-2022-06-01/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384647 (020924ZJUN22) Notable: China threatens to put NZ in freezer with Australia - Beijing has threatened New Zealand’s trade access to its huge market and denounced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for joining an American “disinformation” campaign to “discredit China

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>>123812

China threatens to put NZ in freezer with Australia

WILL GLASGOW and ANNE BARROWCLOUGH - JUNE 2, 2022

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Beijing has threatened New Zealand’s trade access to its huge market and denounced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for joining an American “disinformation” campaign to “discredit China.”

China’s ambassador in Wellington, Wang Xiaolong, said New Zealand should be a “friendly country” and not take its biggest trade partner “for granted”.

In a speech published by China’s embassy in Wellington hours after Ms Adern shared concerns about Beijing with President Joe Biden at the White House, Ambassador Wang said the perception of NZ as a “green, clean, open and friendly country” in the world’s second biggest economy should not be “squandered”.

“This asset of ours did not come out of nowhere or as a matter of course, but has been slowly built up with hard work over the years from both sides,” he said in an address to the New Zealand China Council.

The trade threat was followed by an eruption by China’s Foreign Ministry after New Zealand and America released a joint statement after the Oval Office meeting that said security and defence would become an “ever-more-­important” focus of Wellington’s relationship with Washington.

Their statement also warned a Chinese military base in the Pacific would “fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region” and noted shared concerns over China’s menacing of Taiwan, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and political repression in Hong Kong.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the statement “distorts and smears” Beijing’s Pacific outreach, “deliberately hypes up the South China Sea issue” and made “irresponsible remarks on and grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs including issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong”.

“The hype-up of relevant issues in the joint statement by the US and New Zealand is out of ulterior motives to create disinformation and attack and discredit China,” Mr Zhao said in Beijing on Wednesday evening.

“We hope New Zealand will adhere to its independent foreign policy and do more to enhance security and mutual trust among regional countries and safeguard regional peace and stability,” Mr Zhao said.

Geoffrey Miller, international analyst at Victoria University’s Democracy Project, said the Chinese Ambassador’s comments were reminiscent of the threats made by Beijing’s envoy in Canberra in 2020 before China launched sweeping trade strikes on Australia.

“This is a very dangerous moment for NZ,” Mr Miller told The Australian. “It might just be a warning signal to back off, but it could be the beginning of something stronger. The reference to ‘clean and green’ NZ, I took as a reference to agricultural products, which dominate the country’s exports. If NZ was punished by China over, for example, its milk powder, it would be a calamity.”

Mr Miller said the joint statement was a signal that NZ had allied itself with the US over the Pacific.

“That is significant because it put NZ on the same page with the US,” he said. “China doesn’t like joint statements. They’re a pet hate. They see it as countries ganging up on them.”

Last year, Beijing said New Zealand had demonstrated the importance of “mutual respect” in contrast to the “insane” approach of the Australian government.

NZ Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta on Thursday said Wellington stuck by its independent foreign policy and would not be pulled “betwixt and between by the increasing interest here in the Pacific.”.

Speaking to TVNZ, Ms Mahuta said: “China has been active in the Pacific for a very long time, and it’s really important that New Zealand retains its approach which is to be consistent, predictable, and respectful in the way that we work with China because our relationship has matured,” she said.

“We want to make sure in the way we work with China, that the things we say in private are of no surprise when we say it publicly.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong is currently visiting Samoa and Tonga, her second Pacific trip in the first fortnight of the Albanese government.

Ms Mahuta said she welcomed Penny Wong’s visits to Pacific nations, but suggested if she did the same, it would “make us look desperate”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384666 (020936ZJUN22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on June 1, 2022

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>>123818

>>123806

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on June 1, 2022

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Phoenix TV: We noted yesterday that President Biden met with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and they issued a joint statement. They said “We are concerned with growing strategic competition in the Pacific region...we note with concern the security agreement between the People’s Republic of China and Solomon Islands. In particular, the United States and New Zealand share a concern that the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values or security interests would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and pose national-security concerns to both our countries. ...We reaffirm our support for freedom of navigation and overflight, in the South China Sea and beyond, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). We oppose unlawful maritime claims and activities in the South China Sea.” The joint statement also criticized China on issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. What’s your comment?

Zhao Lijian: We noted the relevant contents of the joint statement, which distorts and smears China’s normal cooperation with Pacific Island countries (PICs), deliberately hypes up the South China Sea issue, makes irresponsible remarks on and grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs including issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. China is firmly opposed to this.

I would like to take some time to make a detailed response. China has repeatedly expounded its position on China-Solomon Islands security cooperation, stressing that such cooperation is conducive to peace, stability and development of Solomon Islands and the South Pacific and proceeds in parallel with existing regional arrangements. The security cooperation does not target any third party, nor does it intend to establish a military base. The hype-up of relevant issues in the joint statement by the US and New Zealand is out of ulterior motives to create disinformation and attack and discredit China. The US has military bases all over the world, yet it expresses concerns about normal security cooperation with other countries. Such act is hypocritical and reflects the US' deep-rooted hegemonic mentality. The real security threat is that the US has cobbled together military blocs in the region, stimulated an arms race and brought nuclear proliferation risks to the South Pacific.

I want to stress that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently visited South Pacific Island countries and co-chaired the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Fiji. State Councilor Wang put forward four principles on developing China’s relations with PICs, namely, equality, mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and openness and inclusiveness, which have been widely welcomed and recognized by PICs. This visit has achieved the expected goals of strengthening communication, enhancing mutual trust, building consensus, deepening friendship and expanding cooperation, and achieved positive results. PICs leaders spoke highly of China’s positive role in supporting their economic development, improving people’s livelihood and fighting the epidemic, and expressed high expectations for the future of China’s cooperation with PICs. China and PICs will continue to support and help each other, firmly uphold each other’s core interests and major concerns, constantly consolidate and develop their comprehensive strategic partnership, pursue common development and prosperity, and work together to build an even closer community with a shared future for China and PICs.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384690 (020948ZJUN22) Notable: NZ shakes off China attack over US talks - New Zealand leaders have shrugged off a missive from China in the wake of a joint US-New Zealand statement on engagement in the Pacific

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>>123812

>>123818

NZ shakes off China attack over US talks

Ben McKay - June 2 2022

New Zealand leaders have shrugged off a missive from China in the wake of a joint US-New Zealand statement on engagement in the Pacific.

China has reacted with anger to a communique issued by US President Joe Biden and NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after their White House meeting on Wednesday (AEDT).

The US-NZ communique "notes with concern" the "establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values", citing China's security agreement with the Solomon Islands.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the two counties "distorted and smeared" China's "normal cooperation with Pacific Island countries".

"The hype-up of relevant issues in the joint statement by the US and New Zealand is out of ulterior motives to create disinformation and attack and discredit China," Mr Zhao said later on Wednesday.

"We hope New Zealand will adhere to its independent foreign policy and do more to enhance security and mutual trust among regional countries and safeguard regional peace and stability."

The comments follow China's usual pattern of verbal retaliation when it believes foreign powers are attempting to curtail its influence abroad.

A report in The Australian suggested it was an "unprecedented dressing down" for New Zealand but in Wellington, government and opposition leaders were far from startled.

Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said they didn't expect a further diplomatic or trade fallout.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee called China's response "grist for the mill".

"They always state their position very very strongly and you'd expect them to do that," he said.

"That doesn't stop us being able to say what we think as well. That's the sign of a mature relationship between countries.

"I don't think that we need to have a "them or us" type attitude forced upon us."

The US-NZ meeting and communique, which pledges further cooperation in the blue continent, comes as China makes its own play to deepen its influence in the region.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is currently on a multi-nation tour of the Pacific, sealing a a number of cooperation deals with island countries.

Ms Mahuta said "there's a lot of interest in the Pacific and New Zealand welcomes that interest."

"But we are also mindful that being in and of the Pacific, it's important for the Pacific to lead the priorities and the solutions that will determine their long-term resilience," she said.

Coincidentally or otherwise, Ms Mahuta met with the China's new Head of Mission in Wellington's Beehive on Thursday, labelling it a "meet and greet".

Like Australia, New Zealand often finds itself in the middle of the geopolitical tug of war between China and the United States given its heavy trade reliance on Beijing.

However, unlike Australia, New Zealand does not have a free trade deal or military alliance with Washington.

Ms Mahuta scotched suggestions the Biden-Ardern summit and communique were edging Wellington closer to a full-blown alliance.

"There's not an indication that's the case ... it's reading a lot into that particular statement," she said.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7764467/nz-shakes-off-china-attack-over-us-talks/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384706 (020955ZJUN22) Notable: Video: Cheng Lei's partner Nick Coyle breaks his silence about her detention in China, says authorities have cut her access to consular officials and tightened her food supply in jail - abc.net.au

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Cheng Lei's partner Nick Coyle breaks his silence about her detention in China

abc.net.au - 2 June 2022

The partner of an Australian journalist detained in China says authorities have cut her access to consular officials and tightened her food supply in jail.

Cheng Lei, an anchor for the Chinese government's English TV channel CGTN, has been jailed for close to two years in Beijing, accused of leaking state secrets.

She has been detained since August 2020 and was put on trial behind closed doors in March, but a verdict has been deferred.

Her partner, Nick Coyle, the outgoing head of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce, told Sky News authorities claimed COVID was the reason they had to cut her monthly consular calls and supply of fresh food.

"Now, there's been no food restrictions in Beijing ... so the idea that, you know, the detention centre couldn't get adequate food — again, it's not acceptable," he said.

He said the last consular virtual visit was on April 21, and "as far as we know, the visits are off indefinitely".

"She's not had one phone call with family, with her children. Nothing," he said.

"These monthly consular visits have literally been what's kept her going for 20 months ... that's your only window to the outside world is this 30 minutes."

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted for comment.

'Am I overreacting?'

Mr Coyle recounted the moments he first realised Ms Cheng was missing in his interview with Sky News.

He spoke to her the day before his birthday, expecting to meet up with her for celebratory drinks.

When he didn't hear from her, he didn't panic at first, thinking she may have been caught up with TV deadlines.

But he then received calls from friends who were worried and hadn't heard from her in 24 hours.

"[I] went into the apartment, and everything kind of looked normal. Until I could see that all the electronic devices, computers, all those sorts of things were gone," he said.

"It was pretty obvious to me then what had happened.

"There's the 'oh s***' moment of what does this mean? But then the practical side kicks in — right, what do we do?"

He spoke to a friend at the embassy.

"Do you think I'm overreacting?" he asked.

His contact said he wasn't overreacting. Later, the embassy told him that she had been detained by the Ministry of State Security.

"That's probably when I was like, yeah, this this is not good. I knew the system well enough to know that that's a pretty difficult one."

Ms Cheng's detention came amid deteriorating relations between Australia and China, and some human rights groups feared her case could be an example of "hostage diplomacy" by Beijing.

Mr Coyle said Ms Cheng was a business reporter and was not focused on political issues between Australia and China.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me. It never has," he said.

Mr Coyle said she was one of the strongest people he knew, but he was worried about health issues she was facing in detention.

Mr Coyle is not the father of Ms Cheng's two children, who live in Australia.

"That's just even more reason why she needs to be back. That's the thing — it's not about me. It's about her and her kids," he said.

"I can't imagine what it would be like for them ... they're dealing with things as well as they can deal with them. I think it's tough.

"It's not like they're too young to understand. They absolutely understand. And it's awful.

"I really feel for her mum and dad. …[they] have gone through hell as well."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-02/cheng-lei-partner-nick-coyle-breaks-silence-china-detention/101120570

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384728 (021003ZJUN22) Notable: Ongoing detention of Australian citizens Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun “should not be a problem” affecting the overall state of bilateral ties between Canberra and Beijing, China’s top envoy to Australia, Xiao Qian says

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>>123821

>>123822

Detention of Cheng Lei ‘no problem’ for China-Australia relationship

Andrew Tillett - Jun 2, 2022

The ongoing detention of Australian citizens Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun “should not be a problem” affecting the overall state of bilateral ties between Canberra and Beijing, China’s top envoy to Australia says.

Ambassador Xiao Qian denied Ms Cheng and Dr Yang were political prisoners, amid fresh complaints from supporters over their treatment.

“It’s basically a legal issue matter, I think it would be very helpful for the normal legal jurisdictional process for China be respected, be followed,” Mr Xiao told The Australian Financial Review.

“These are individual cases. It should not be a problem affecting our overall relationship.”

Dr Yang, a writer and pro-democracy advocate, was detained in January 2019 at Guangzhou airport. Ms Cheng, a TV journalist whose young children remain in Australia, was detained in August 2020.

Both have been charged with breaking China’s national security laws but full details of their alleged offences are opaque. Both have been tried behind closed doors in a legal system with a 99 per cent conviction rate, but there has been no word of the verdicts or sentences.

Dr Yang’s supporters say he is in poor health, amid concerns he is not receiving appropriate medical care. He has previously claimed he was tortured and interrogated ahead of his trial.

Ms Cheng’s partner, Nick Coyle, told Sky News on Thursday that Ms Cheng’s health had deteriorated and she was living off a diet of raw white rice. He also said monthly consular visits had been suspended.

But Mr Xiao said their “basic rights” were being protected.

“We have been communicating with the Australian side through diplomatic channels about their recent situation,” he said.

“Recently I’ve been aware there has been concern they have been out of contact with their relatives in Australia and Australian diplomats in China. It’s possibly because of COVID, people are not supposed to meet freely as [they would] under normal conditions.”

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/detention-of-cheng-lei-no-problem-for-china-australia-relationship-20220602-p5aqm5

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384745 (021013ZJUN22) Notable: ‘Political relationship’ needs to mend before China drops trade bans: China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian

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>>123823

‘Political relationship’ needs to mend before China drops trade bans

Andrew Tillett - Jun 2, 2022

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China’s ambassador to Australia has rebuffed Anthony Albanese’s demand that trade sanctions targeting more than $20 billion of Australian exports be lifted, saying it will not happen until there is an improvement in the “political relationship” between Canberra and Beijing.

But Xiao Qian declared China’s readiness to talk with the new Labor government without preconditions and find areas of potential co-operation, including on climate change and the Pacific. He denied China posed a security threat.

“With this new government in power we are looking forward to a possible opportunity for both sides to make joint efforts so that we can put this relationship back on the right track and let’s move on in the right direction because it’s good for both sides,” Mr Xiao told The Australian Financial Review in an exclusive interview.

“I respect there is process after the election, [there] needed [to be] some time for the new government to be formed, for policies to be decided, but once they’re ready, I’m ready to compare notes and see what we can do together.”

While attending the Quad leaders summit in Tokyo last week, Mr Albanese said China should drop its trade bans and punitive tariffs against Australian exports including wine, coal and barley if it was sincere about mending the bilateral relationship afters years of tension and Beijing’s freeze on ministerial contact.

But Mr Xiao said the “core issue” was the need to improve relations at the “political level” first, putting the onus on Australia to respond.

“The relationship now is in a difficult situation. A bad situation in the political sphere has affected our relationship in other fields, including economic, trade and some other areas as well,” he said.

“If we could have a better political relationship between our two countries, that will perhaps pave the way for improvement of our relationship in other fields as well, including investment, trade and other interactions.”

‘Friendly gesture’

Mr Xiao said a message from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang congratulating Mr Albanese hours after he was sworn in as prime minister last week was intended as a “friendly gesture” towards the new government.

The message was approved at the highest levels of the Chinese leadership and noted this year marked 50 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, an achievement of the Whitlam Labor government.

Mr Albanese is yet to respond to the message.

Asked why China did not simply drop its trade sanctions, Mr Xiao insisted they had been decisions made by the relevant regulatory authorities, such as responding to complaints about dumping.

“It was not a political decision. It was a decision made on the merits of the individual cases,” he said.

Mr Xiao said there might be a “different interpretation” on which country was at fault for the deterioration in relations, but pointed to the Coalition government’s ban on Huawei’s involvement in Australia’s 5G rollout and rejection of foreign investment applications as cases of discrimination against Chinese businesses.

“It’s very unfortunate that during the previous government’s time, certain measures were taken against Chinese businesses and Chinese investors in the name of so-called national security,” he said.

“These measures have damaged the confidence of Chinese business in Australia.

“I think it is fair to say it is not the Chinese side who started all these problems.”

Productive contacts

Mr Xiao, who took up his post in January, said a “good atmosphere” was also required for resumption of ministerial contact.

“When they [ministers] meet each other and agree on many things, that will be constructive. If they meet and quarrel and fight and criticise each other, it’s going to be worse for our relationship,” he said.

“We need some preparations to pave the way for productive contacts. Instead of meeting with each other for meeting’s sake … we should be expecting a meeting that will be producing some kind of outcome that can contribute to the improvement of the relationship.”

Given the priorities of the new government, climate change was an area of potential co-operation between Beijing and Canberra, Mr Xiao said.

The envoy was hopeful of a positive signal from the Albanese government about China’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, saying Chinese membership was beneficial for both countries. Australia so far has refused to countenance Chinese membership while the trade sanctions remain in place.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384764 (021022ZJUN22) Notable: Five Eyes Chiefs of Defence Hold Talks in London - UK hosting Chiefs of Defence from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States over three days of events in London

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Five Eyes Chiefs of Defence Hold Talks in London

The UK is hosting the Chiefs of Defence from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States over three days of events in London.

United Kingdom Ministry of Defence - 1 June 2022

The UK Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin welcomed his counterparts from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance this week to discuss areas of mutual defence and security interest and to attend Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said:

"The peace and prosperity we have enjoyed over the last 70 years rests in great part on the strength of the United Kingdom’s alliances worldwide.

"The Five Eyes partnership is one such example; and is testament to the mutual trust and admiration that exists between our respective Armed Forces. Today’s meeting was an opportunity to restate our commitment to one another, and to the rules and freedoms which underpin security and stability worldwide."

The senior military leaders, who meet twice a year, will attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade, including the Trooping of the Colour by the 1st Battalion Irish Guards and the flypast over Buckingham Palace by aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.

The alliance, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is a long-standing and trusted collaboration. Partners reaffirmed their commitment to advance defence and security cooperation to protect shared interests and values.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/five-eyes-chiefs-of-defence-hold-talks-in-london

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384775 (021026ZJUN22) Notable: Biden gives Bubs a big thumbs up on baby formula delivery - US President Joe Biden thanks Australian infant formula maker Bubs Australia as the first batch of Bubs’ product gets ready to land into the hands of desperate American parents late next week

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>>123773

Biden gives Bubs a big thumbs up on baby formula delivery

Jessica Yun - June 2, 2022

US President Joe Biden has thanked Australian infant formula maker Bubs Australia at a meeting, as the first batch of Bubs’ product gets ready to land into the hands of desperate American parents late next week.

Biden held a virtual roundtable overnight that invited infant formula manufacturers from around the world – including ASX-listed Bubs’ boss Kristy Carr – to provide updates on ‘Operation Fly Formula’, which fast-tracks formula shipments to the US amid their current shortage.

The Bubs delivery marks the fourth mission of ‘Operation Fly Formula’.

“This flight would bring 4.6 million bottles of infant formula and pave the way for up to 27.5 million total bottles of Bubs infant formula to be supplied to American families in the weeks ahead,” Biden said. “I thank the folks from Down Under.”

Bubs Australia announced over the weekend it was scaling up its production to help ease the months-long baby formula crisis that unfolded after dominant US manufacturer Abbott Laboratories was forced to shut down a major plant after two babies fell sick and another two died from bacterial infections.

“Look, as a father and a grandfather — and I’m sure we all feel the same way — I understand how difficult this shortage has been for families all across the country,” Biden said.

“There is nothing more stressful than the feeling like you can’t get what your child needs.”

Bubs chief Kristy Carr, who joined the US President at the meeting virtually from Melbourne at 4am, said the upcoming shipment would hit supermarket shelves in the West and East Coast and target hardest-hit areas first.

“We will be distributing our products to both the major retailers of infant formula, as well as some of our smaller retail partners, to make sure that we prioritise the states that are most in need and, of course, the vulnerable population areas who need infant formula most,” Carr said.

Thanking the President, she said she was delighted to help in some way and bring Bubs’ product to American families.

“You’re helping out a great deal. Thank you,” Biden said to Carr.

Bubs’ shares jumped almost 6 per cent on the news, ending the session at 62 cents.

Discussion at the meeting was steered by White House senior health policy advisor Christen Young; US National Economic Council deputy director Sameera Fazili; surgeon general Vivek Murthy; and US Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra.

Other global infant formula manufacturers at the roundtable include British multinational Reckitt; American-Irish company Perrigo; Nestle’s Gerber; and US’ ByHeart.

Infant formula makers around the world are now racing to get a foot in the US market, which has until now been tightly held by three dominant players.

Bubs Australia’s much larger rival A2 Milk is awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to get their own product in front of American customers.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/biden-gives-bubs-a-big-thumbs-up-on-baby-formula-delivery-20220602-p5aqjl.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384784 (021033ZJUN22) Notable: Labor backbenchers urge Albanese to ‘stay true to his values’ on Julian Assange trial

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>>123764

Labor backbenchers urge Albanese to ‘stay true to his values’ on Julian Assange trial

New prime minister says ‘not all foreign affairs is best done with a loud hailer’ when asked if he will intervene on behalf of the WikiLeaks cofounder

Daniel Hurst - 2 Jun 2022

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Australian government backbenchers hope the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will stay “true to his values” and press the US to drop the case against Julian Assange.

Albanese has previously expressed concern about the US government’s efforts to try the WikiLeaks cofounder in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables.

Albanese said in December 2021 he did “not see what purpose is served by the ongoing pursuit of Mr Assange” and that “enough is enough”.

But Albanese has kept his cards close to his chest since being sworn in as prime minister.

When asked this week whether he would encourage the US to drop the charges against the Australian citizen, the Labor leader said: “My position is that not all foreign affairs is best done with the loudhailer.”

Labor MP Julian Hill, an active member of the cross-party Australian parliamentary group pushing for Assange’s release, said he was hopeful Albanese would pursue the matter.

“Albo is a man of integrity and values and I’m confident, of course, that he will be true to his values,” Hill told Guardian Australia.

“There are members of the Labor caucus who have had an active involvement in the Assange group based on these critical principles – press freedom and fighting against the chilling effect on the media that this persecution would have – and would hope that our government could achieve an outcome.”

In April a court in the UK formally approved the extradition of Assange to the US on espionage charges, but it is up to the home secretary, Priti Patel, to sign off.

Hill said he believed “that the Australian government needs to advocate to our now-Aukus partners and bring this matter to an end”, but acknowledged achieving a breakthrough for Assange may be “difficult”.

Hill, a Victorian MP, said he had held a “very consistent” and principled position for years about the damaging effect of the case on press freedom.

He said it was “unacceptable” that while the person who leaked the material had had her sentence commuted and was now free, “the person who published it is being handed over for deportation to an effective death sentence”.

Assange is alleged to have conspired with army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password hash to a classified US Department of Defence computer, a US Department of Justice statement said.

Manning was released in 2017, when Barack Obama commuted her 35-year military prison sentence in one of his final acts as president.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384791 (021036ZJUN22) Notable: Ex-soldier ‘couldn’t say’ whether Roberts-Smith was complicit in murders, court told

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>>123763

Ex-soldier ‘couldn’t say’ whether Roberts-Smith was complicit in murders, court told

Michaela Whitbourn - June 2, 2022

A former senior Special Air Service soldier who served in Afghanistan with war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has told the Federal Court he couldn’t say whether Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of two Afghan prisoners and he relied on his subordinates to give truthful reports about any killings.

Person 81, a former SAS troop commander whose identity is suppressed for national security reasons, was the final witness to give evidence in Roberts-Smith’s defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times. He was cross-examined about a key issue in the trial, namely the circumstances in which two Afghan men died during a mission at a compound dubbed Whiskey 108 in 2009.

Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, the Herald and The Canberra Times for defamation over a series of articles in 2018 he says portray him as a war criminal who was involved in the unlawful killing of unarmed Afghan prisoners. Under the rules of engagement that bound the SAS, prisoners could not be killed.

The decorated former soldier denies all wrongdoing and has said any killings in Afghanistan, including two during the Whiskey 108 mission, happened lawfully in the heat of battle. The media outlets are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and allege Roberts-Smith was involved in six unlawful killings in Afghanistan, including the execution of two men who emerged from a tunnel at Whiskey 108.

Person 81, who was called by Roberts-Smith’s legal team to give evidence, was troop commander in Afghanistan during the Whiskey 108 mission. He said on Wednesday that he was not informed by his soldiers that any men had been discovered in a tunnel.

During cross-examination by the newspapers’ barrister, Nicholas Owens, SC, on Thursday Person 81 agreed he was unable to say one way or another whether there were people in the tunnel, only that he didn’t see any himself.

“I take it, in your role as commander, you are, in fact, quite busy at all times during the mission?” Owens asked. “That is very correct,” Person 81 replied.

Person 81 told the court he had a memory of seeing fighting-age Afghan men inside Whiskey 108, but could not remember where.

Roberts-Smith has told the court no men were found inside the tunnel and two insurgents were killed lawfully outside Whiskey 108, including one man killed by him. He called four SAS witnesses who supported his account about the tunnel. Another soldier, Person 27, said he did not have “any recollection of anyone coming out of a tunnel”, although he was not in the area.

SAS witnesses called by the newspapers have said at least two men were found in a tunnel at Whiskey 108 and taken prisoner. A serving SAS soldier, Person 41, told the court he saw Roberts-Smith execute one unarmed Afghan man that day and direct another soldier, Person 4, to kill a second man. The newspapers allege the men were taken from the tunnel.

Person 81 agreed on Thursday he “wouldn’t know” whether two men killed on the day of the Whiskey 108 mission were prisoners. He also “couldn’t say” whether one of the men was executed by Roberts-Smith, or whether the second man was executed by Person 4 with Roberts-Smith’s encouragement. He did not see anything that made him suspect this had occurred, he said.

Person 81 agreed he relied on patrol commanders, who headed smaller teams of soldiers within the troop, to give honest and accurate information about any killings.

Roberts-Smith will officially close his case on Friday before the parties return to court in July for final submissions.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/ex-soldier-couldn-t-say-whether-roberts-smith-was-complicit-in-murders-court-told-20220602-p5aqlo.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384807 (021049ZJUN22) Notable: Israeli legislator Yaakov Litzman leaves Knesset after assisting accused Australian pedophile - Ultra-Orthodox former minister indicted for breach of trust and obstruction of justice in Leifer affair when he offered promotions to psychiatrists in exchange for their evaluation that she is unfit to stand trial

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Israeli legislator leaves Knesset after assisting accused Australian pedophile

Ultra-Orthodox former minister indicted for breach of trust and obstruction of justice in Leifer affair when he offered promotions to psychiatrists in exchange for their evaluation that she is unfit to stand trial

Moran Azulay - 06.01.22

Ultra-Orthodox legislator and former minister Yaakov Litzman on Wednesday resigned from the Knesset after 23 years at the head of his United Torah Judaism party.

Litzman's resignation was part of a plea agreement reached four months ago with the prosecution, after he was charged with aiding accused Australian pedophile Malka Leifer's attempts to avoid facing trial in Australia.

The former educator was charged with sexually abusing several former students when she was principle of a Jewish girl's school in Melbourne and had fought extradition through the Israeli courts, for six years, causing strain to Israeli Australian relations.

She was finally extradited in 2020 after a Supreme Court ruling.

Litzman was charged with obstruction of justice and breach of trust, while he was Health Minister in a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, when he tried to influence a psychiatric evaluation of Leifer and determine that she was mentally unfit to stand trial.

The prosecution claimed he had offered lucrative promotions, in exchange for the desired professional opinion.

In a plea deal with then attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, the former minister pled guilty to breach of trust in the Malka Leifer affair and received a suspended sentence and a fine in exchange for his immediate resignation from the Knesset.

The ultra-Orthodox lawmaker was also suspected of trying to influence Health Ministry officials to prevent the closure of a restaurant owned by a close associate, whose poor sanitation conditions led several customers to fall ill.

Litzman handed in his resignation letter to Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy.

"I am ending with satisfaction, many years of service in the Knesset, out of gratitude to the all mighty who allowed me to serve the public with dedication and loyalty," Litzman said in a statement.

Litzman is the second ultra-Orthodox member of Knesset to resign over crimes committed. Last week Shas leader Arye Deri resigned his Knesset seat after he was pled guilty to tax evasions.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1qbt04005

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16384827 (021101ZJUN22) Notable: Kevin Rudd: I don't believe Peter Dutton regrets walking out on the Apology to the Stolen Generations - Kevin Rudd - canberratimes.com.au

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>>123785

Kevin Rudd: I don't believe Peter Dutton regrets walking out on the Apology to the Stolen Generations

Kevin Rudd - June 2 2022

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Australians should be deeply concerned that Peter Dutton - the man who proudly marched out on the Apology to Indigenous Australians - stands unopposed within the Liberal Party as its alternative prime minister.

While his emergence as Opposition Leader has renewed scrutiny of his motivations back in 2008, this was just one of many troubling chapters in Dutton's three-decade career that expose his serial failure to empathise with anyone he perceives as different.

You see it throughout Dutton's attitudes to poverty, to disability, to Pacific Islanders threatened by climate change, to LGBT rights and much more. At best, Dutton is indifferent to other perspectives; at worst, he openly weaponises these differences for crude political gain, as he's done with the toxic politics of race.

Dutton took his boycott of the Apology very seriously. He was so opposed to the government apologising for past injustices that he offered to resign from the Coalition frontbench. It was a matter of deep principle.

Dutton now says he regrets his decision. I don't believe him. More likely he regrets how the Apology brought our country together, rather than inspiring widespread dissent among white Australians as many predicted. Far from becoming a hero, Dutton's boycott made him look petty. What he truly regrets is his damaged reputation, as he now opportunistically pivots from the far right (where he built his career in the Liberal Party) towards the political centre through a cosmetic makeover.

His insincerity is evidenced by his ever-changing explanations for the boycott. Before the Apology, Dutton warned it could expose taxpayers to billions in compensation. After it, he claimed it was a tokenistic gesture. Now he claims he supported apologising, but not until "the problems were resolved".

This attempted reconstruction is intellectually and morally bankrupt. The Apology was recommended by the 1997 Bringing Them Home report, which John Howard had already ignored for more than a decade. Wait much longer and the Stolen Generations would have been long dead before their suffering was acknowledged.

Furthermore, an apology is a starting point for reconciliation, not an end. That's why we introduced "Closing the Gap". You wouldn't advise a newlywed couple to "never apologise until all your problems are resolved". Why embrace that policy in government?

Dutton's walkout was ideological. He couldn't imagine the Apology's meaning from anyone's perspective but his own, just as he couldn't relate to the asylum-seeker families he kept in limbo for years, or the Pacific Islanders whom he laughed at as their homes were inundated by rising seas.

Other the other hand, Dutton eagerly pledged "special attention" for white South African asylum seekers, who he instinctively believed would "abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard and not lead a life on welfare" if they were brought to a "civilised country" like ours.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390422 (031158ZJUN22) Notable: Papua New Guinea PM warns opposition not to 'play politics' with China visit

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>>123753

>>123757

Papua New Guinea PM warns opposition not to 'play politics' with China visit

Kirsty Needham - June 3, 2022

SYDNEY, June 3 (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea's prime minister warned the opposition not to "play politics" with the visit of China's foreign minister amid an election campaign, noting China is a major trade partner and the biggest buyer of the Pacific nation's gas exports.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Prime Minister James Marape on Friday, after signing agreements with his counterpart, in the final days of an eight-nation tour that has raised concern over Beijing's ambitions in the region.

China was unable to gain consensus from 10 Pacific island nations for a sweeping regional pact on security and trade at a meeting on Monday. Several nations said it was too rushed and they wanted to consult the broader region, where some countries have diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not Beijing.

Nonetheless, Wang struck a series of bilateral deals on infrastructure, fisheries, trade and police equipment on his tour, and officials say discussions over a regional pact will continue.

Chinese state media outlet Xinhua this week reported Beijing wanted developing countries to join its new "Global Security Initiative", although details have been scant.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern over Beijing's offers for a greater security and policing presence in the Pacific, after it struck a security pact with Solomon Islands.

In a letter to other Pacific leaders last month, the Federated States of Micronesia warned a multilateral pact with China could bring "Cold War" to the region.

In a virtual meeting with his Federated States of Micronesia counterpart on Thursday, Wang said China wasn't expanding its military into the Pacific but focusing on economic development.

"The facts over nearly half a century have proved that the exchanges between China and (Pacific island countries) did not and will not affect regional security and stability," he said, according to a foreign ministry statement on Friday.

Wang is expected to travel to East Timor later on Friday to sign bilateral agreements on health, agriculture, media and economic cooperation, according to East Timor’s foreign ministry.

In Dili, he will also meet with newly elected president Jose Ramos-Horta who has advocated for a stronger relationship between the two nations.

'FRIENDS TO ALL'

Administered by Australia until 1975 and its nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea is strategically positioned and rich in resources but largely undeveloped.

Papua New Guinea had a foreign policy of "friends to all and enemies to none", Prime Minister Marape said in a statement.

"China is the major buyer of our produce, and we will engage with them more in commerce and trade, as well as other aspects of our bilateral relationship going into the future," he said.

China buys over 50% of all the gas produced in Papua New Guinea and has given an undertaking to buy more, he said.

Marape hit back at former prime minister Peter O'Neill, who is running for the top job and who criticised the timing of Wang's visit as being inappropriate and warned no deals should be signed.

"The former prime minister knows very well not to play politics with the visit of an international leader to our country," Marape said.

TONGA SHARES 'RESPECT FOR DEMOCRACY'

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrived in Tonga on Friday to highlight the new Australian government's commitments on climate change, in her second trip to the region since being sworn in last week.

"We are not a government or country that wants to come in and tell you what to do," said Wong, who visited Samoa on Thursday and pledged a new coastguard patrol vessel.

Tonga's Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, who signed six agreements with China on Tuesday, told a joint media conference Tonga and Australia shared "respect for democracy and rule of law and the rights and freedoms of others".

Australian aid has been crucial in Tonga's history, and will continue in the priority areas of education, health, defence, trade, policing and democratic governance, he said.

Tonga has external debt of $195 million or 35.9 percent of its GDP, of which two-thirds is owed to China's Export-Import Bank, its budget shows.

Sovaleni told reporters on Wednesday the debt had been discussed during the Chinese foreign minister's visit, and Tonga will continue to make repayments.

Australia has offered to increase work opportunities for Tongans in Australia, and export opportunities, he added.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/papua-new-guinea-leader-warns-opposition-not-play-politics-with-china-visit-2022-06-03/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390437 (031206ZJUN22) Notable: Beijing targets East Timor, four deals set to be signed - East Timor will sign agreements with Beijing covering air services, healthcare, economic and technical cooperation, ending Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of the region with a swag of new deals

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>>123753

>>123787

Beijing targets East Timor, four deals set to be signed

Eryk Bagshaw and Raimundos Oki - June 3, 2022

Singapore/Dili: East Timor will sign agreements with Beijing covering air services, healthcare, economic and technical cooperation, ending Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of the region with a swag of new deals.

Landing in Dili on Friday afternoon, Wang was expected to sign off on the pacts driven by East Timorese Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak who is looking to leverage infrastructure investment from Australia, Japan and China. Timorese government figures confirmed the deal would also include an agreement with Chinese state TV to digitise the country’s national radio and television services, expanding China’s reach just as the ABC prepares to step up its presence in the Pacific.

Jose Ramos Horta, who was re-elected as president in March, has been keen to maintain Dili’s connection to Beijing. The president’s palace, the Foreign Ministry, the Defence Ministry and major shopping centres in the capital were built with Chinese investment. A commercial port built by a Chinese state-owned company less than 700 kilometres from Darwin is also set to open later this year.

Horta thanked Xi Jinping in May for his strong support for East Timor’s “nation-building process”. The country has large gas and oil reserves, but major mining companies have described the environment as too challenging, forcing it to turn to Chinese state-backed firms to fund the Timor GAP facility.

Wang left Papua New Guinea on Thursday after committing to buying more gas from PNG, and helping Port Moresby with green development, as well as COVID-19 and anti-narcotics programs.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape, who is facing an election in July, said China was a “very strategic and important bilateral partner”.

“PNG is friends to all and enemies to none,” Marape said. “China is the major buyer of our produce, and we will engage with them more in commerce and trade, as well as other aspects of our bilateral relationship going into the future.”

Marape dismissed criticism of Wang’s visit in the middle of the PNG election campaign after the opposition accused him of politicising PNG’s diplomacy.

“For the Chinese Foreign Minister to visit us is an affirmation of the warm relationship and friendship between our two countries,” Marape said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is not expected to visit Port Moresby until after PNG’s election.

The final tranche of bilateral deals came after Wang failed to secure consensus among Pacific Island nations to adopt a 10-country security and trade pact this week. Beijing’s top envoy has faced resistance elsewhere in the Pacific and has been forced to trumpet bilateral deals, and a position paper in lieu of the mega security and trade deal sought by Beijing.

Wang accused the opponents of China’s plan of using “geopolitical rivalry to misinterpret and smear the cooperation between the two sides”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who flew to Samoa and Tonga this week, urged Pacific Island nations to consider their independence, debt levels and regional security before signing any deal with Beijing.

In PNG, the Chinese foreign minister remained optimistic his country would execute its plans for the region.

“We believe that Pacific Island countries have the wisdom and ability to overcome temporary difficulties and have a rebirth and rejuvenation, and expect Pacific Island countries to enhance solidarity and adhere to open regionalism,” he said in a meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown on Thursday night.

But China’s aggressive push into the Pacific has put some countries offside. On Friday, Tonga - which is heavily indebted to China’s infrastructure bank - became the latest country to raise concerns about attempts to shape the regional order. Samoa and New Zealand had criticised China’s approach on Thursday.

“There are common strands that bind us,” Tongan Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni said after his meeting with the Australian foreign minister. “They include respect for democracy, the rule of law, and the rights and freedoms of others. This remains the important tenets of our relations.”

Wong said China had become more active in the region and Australia had to respond.

“What we have to do is to lift our engagement in the region,” she said. “We have to talk to them, with them, about our climate policy, which, as I’ve said previously, is the central issue.”

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/asia/beijing-targets-east-timor-four-deals-set-to-be-signed-20220603-p5aqx3.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390450 (031211ZJUN22) Notable: Northern Territory primary school quietly terminates Chinese-funded Confucius Institute language and culture program, but teachers from the Confucius Institute continue to teach in classrooms across Darwin

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NT school quietly terminates Chinese-funded Confucius Institute program but teachers remain

Roxanne Fitzgerald - 3 June 2022

A controversial Chinese government-funded language and culture program was quietly terminated from a Northern Territory school at the end of last year after the NT government committed to reviewing the program in the wake of concerns over potential propaganda in classrooms.

Despite this, six teachers from the Confucius Institute continue to teach in NT classrooms across Darwin.

The Confucius Institute Classroom (CIC) program at Woodroffe Primary School, which opened in 2017, ceased when the agreement concluded in August last year, a Department of Education spokeswoman said.

"The decision to not continue the Confucius Classroom was made by the school, based on its teaching and learning priorities," she said.

"Separate to the CIC program agreements, CDU [Charles Darwin Univesity] and the CDU Confucius Institute place Chinese language teachers in selected government and non-government schools.

"None of these are registered to teach in the NT, therefore an NT-registered teacher from the school is always present when lessons are delivered."

While the NT Education Minister Lauren Moss declined to respond to questions by the ABC over whether there were concerns Confucius Institute classrooms could influence or compromise academic freedom, the Education Department said it supported students to "learn a diverse range of local and foreign languages".

"The department continues to work with CDU to ensure appropriate annual review processes are in place for language programs in schools," the spokeswoman said.

Assistant teachers recruited from China

To many, the difference between the now-scrapped CIC program at Woodroffe primary and a handful of Chinese language teachers from the Confucius Institute teaching in schools may not seem huge.

However, CDU Confucius Institute director David Young said the two were not the same.

"In a CIC [program], you would have the teacher there all the time … five days a week," he said.

"But Confucius Institute teaching assistants [are not] qualified teachers in Australia. They're all teaching assistants … [and] they go to school for a couple of hours a week."

All teachers are hired casually through the Confucius Institute, which last year received US$236,000 ($327,761) in funding from its Chinese partner universities Anhui Normal University and Hainan University.

Seven are undertaking CDU's Master of Education, and two were recruited from China over the past couple of weeks.

Professor Young said the teachers played a very important role in providing students in the NT the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture and language.

The university has just signed another five-year contract with Hanban, the Confucius Institute Headquarters, and its partner universities.

"Asia is our closest neighbour," he said.

"Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages, if not the most widely spoken language in the world."

He said the university was "very firm" on foreign influence and had autonomy over the language curriculum.

"We have to report all foreign arrangements to the government and register the Confucius Institute under the Foreign Arrangements Scheme," Mr Young said.

"We've answered a number of questions to the government, and they've been very happy with the answers that we provided.

"I think it's wise for countries to be vigilant about foreign interference. But certainly, in my own experience, I haven't seen anything like that with our Confucius Institute."

Avoiding risk of foreign interference

Swinburne University professor John Fitzgerald is one of Australia's leading experts on China and its influence and has long called for closer scrutiny of Confucius Institute programs in Australia.

However, he said CDU's approach was "quite an innovative" way to navigate the risks while remaining accountable to the university.

"There's no doubt we need more Chinese language teaching and learning in Australian schools, but when Confucius Institutes are involved there's always a risk of foreign interference," he said.

"State and territory governments should lift their game — this is our responsibility, not China's.

"The CDU program seems to be a smart way of meeting students' needs while minimising the risks.

"Let's wait and see how it all works out."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-03/confucius-institute-program-scrapped-from-nt-school-/101122032

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390500 (031230ZJUN22) Notable: Dear academics: we didn’t walk away from China - Those in this country who still have the strange idea that we are the ones who have caused the problem in relations with Beijing should pull their heads in - Paul Monk - theaustralian.com.au

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>>123771

>>123772

Dear academics: we didn’t walk away from China

Those in this country who still have the strange idea that we are the ones who have caused the problem in relations with Beijing should pull their heads in.

PAUL MONK - June 3, 2022

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During the past 30 years and more – as Aaron Friedberg argues cogently in his newly published tour de force, Getting China Wrong – the OECD, led by the US, bent over backwards to engage with China. The expectation was that China, if admitted to the liberal international order and the World Trade Organisation, would prosper and open up economically and politically.

It prospered mightily but it didn’t open up. Engagement did not work. Xi Jinping is dominating a China that now is openly hostile to the core principles of free trade and liberal political governance. It has reversed even the modest political reforms put in place by Deng Xiaoping. It has suppressed even the tentative experiments with the rule of law dating back to the reform and opening era. It is openly seeking hegemony and its ambitions are not welcome around the region. We are far from alone.

We must take this on board, Friedberg concludes, and coalesce to constrain the hubris of Xi and the anti-liberalism of the regime he heads. We cannot, he comments, “afford to wallow in solipsism and self-doubt”.

There were preliminary signs under the outgoing federal government and at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit last week in Tokyo that this is happening. There is a long, long way to go. But there’s no doubt about those in this country who still have the strange idea that we are the ones who have caused the problem in relations with Beijing and should pull our heads in.

The signatories all, in one way or another, work on things to do with China. Their letter was published concurrently in English by the Xinhua News Agency, the primary press organ of the Chinese Communist Party.

These are academics, it seems, who have better access in Beijing than ministers in the outgoing federal government who couldn’t even get phone calls returned during the past two years, to say nothing of having an open letter published by Xinhua.

They “acknowledge that the new government is likely to avoid the over-aggressive approach of its predecessor. In our view less public aggression is likely to be more effective in dealing with China: international engagement should replace the language of war.”

Have they not been paying any attention to the rhetoric coming out of Beijing? Do they believe its behaviour towards its neighbours has been all about “engagement” in the Xi era? What are they smoking?

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390536 (031248ZJUN22) Notable: Heinous one-man electoral chaos a wake-up call for police - Cheng Fan was running Australia’s largest electoral interference operation from a small room of his brick home in Blacktown, NSW - sent 23 million toxic, racist and homophobic emails, trying to distort the outcome of elections in three federal seats

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Heinous one-man electoral chaos a wake-up call for police

CAMERON STEWART and REMY VARGA - JUNE 3, 2022

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Cheng Fan was running Australia’s largest electoral interference operation from a small room of his brick home in Blacktown in Sydney’s west when the Australian Federal Police walked in.

His computer had already spewed out 23 million toxic, racist and homophobic emails, trying to distort the outcome of elections in three federal seats. But the Chinese-born IT specialist didn’t expect to get caught. “I don’t think he ever expected us to come through the door, he was certainly surprised,” says AFP agent Glen Brazendale, speaking for the first time about that day, July 2, 2020.

The arrest of Chinese-born Cheng, sentenced in Penrith District Court on Thursday to a 20-month suspended term, was a victory for the AFP. But, despite Cheng’s trail of destruction, the 34-year-old father is less criminal mastermind, more mentally ill.

Judge Karen Robinson found he was suffering from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder when he used multiple identities to send millions of emails targeting voters, many of which were racist and homophobic.

He refused to give an interview to police but pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in a letter tendered to the court, believing the people whose identities he’d stolen to orchestrate his campaign died as a result of his wrongdoing.

In 2018 Cheng began to send abusive spam-style emails to thousands of people during the Wentworth by-election campaign urging them not to vote for then independent candidate Kerryn Phelps.

Phelps defeated Liberal Dave Sharma but in the federal election just seven months later, in May 2019, Cheng sent out a similar series of rambling homophobic and racist rants against Phelps.

They claimed wrongly that she had withdrawn from the race, was in jail for citizenship violations and was supporting accused Israeli sex offender and former school principal Malka Leifer.

“Kerryn Phelps apologises to voters for her fellow unvaccinated Jews spreading measles across her country,” Cheng wrote on May 12, 2019. “Kerryn Phelps apologises to voters for her fellow LGBT spreading AIDS across the country also.” Sharma defeated Phelps in that second contest.

Police looked into the emails at that time but could not find the culprit. A year later, in the Eden-Monaro by-election campaign, a similarly vile and abusive emails were sent, this time attacking the then Labor candidate Kristy McBain.

“Kristy McBain, that crazy bitch running for Eden-Monaro, was tested positive for Covid-19 today, it happened just now in our clinic,” said an email written by Cheng on June 15.

Another on June 7 said; “If McBain got elected, God will unleash the Covid plague and the bushfire in the area again! You will lose your home and your family.”

The court heard Ms McBain said in her victim impact statement the disinformation onslaught caused a significant impact on her family, with both she and her husband particularly concerned given the accusations involved crimes against children.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390567 (031258ZJUN22) Notable: Australian Federal Police train team of digital technology sniffer dogs to target child abuse operations and terrorism perpetrators

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Australian Federal Police train team of digital technology sniffer dogs to target child abuse operations and terrorism perpetrators

Antoinette Radford - 3 June 2022

A team of specially trained sniffer dogs are being deployed to police stations across Australia to search out a new scent — digital technology items.

While dogs are often used to smell out drugs and explosives, nine canines across Australia have been taught to sniff out items, like USBs, hard drives, and SIM cards.

Police are specifically targeting child abuse operations and terrorism perpetrators with the new capabilities.

Acting Inspector of Canine Operations Mark Holmes said criminals involved in those types of crimes often stored digital files on hard drives and USBs, which were then hidden around their homes.

"Those dogs specifically target those items which might otherwise be missed in a search and they support hand searchers … or the investigators in these operations," he said.

The dogs will sweep a premises after a team of investigators have already conducted their search, and so far out of 74 operations; they have located 328 items.

Due to their initial success, the new canine capabilities will now be permanently stationed in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, with dogs already based in NSW, the ACT and Queensland.

Only top 1 per cent of sniffer dogs selected

The dogs go through a rigorous training process, with only the top one per cent of dogs who succeed in initial sniffer dog training for drugs and explosives being selected to train as technology detecting dogs.

"We require the top one per cent of dogs that we see through the program, to succeed in this discipline," Acting Inspector Holmes said.

"The challenges are that dogs focus in on odour, and the items we're looking for have very little odour.

"So these dogs are specifically trained to get in nice and close and detect that one element."

Mark Rice, the team leader of training and development at the AFP's canine operations centre, said the inspiration for technology detecting dogs came after a visit to the United States where the team saw how dogs were used by their law enforcement agencies.

"I was a sceptic at the start, and it's been the proof of our success that has really made me a strong believer. The future of detection capabilities is endless," he said.

He said the dogs were motivated by a play reward at the end of a hard day's work.

"Their only pay cheque is to get a big play and a big game at the end of doing something right," he said.

"So it's very important that the handler is well trained and the handler is very skilled at the timing of that reward, and keeping those dogs motivated to keep working."

For Mr Rice, the hard work put into training the dogs to sniff out technology items is all worth it, as it is working to keep the community safer.

"Every day their handler is dedicated to making these dogs as strong as possible to keep the community as safe as possible," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-03/afp-training-dogs-to-sniff-out-digital-technology/101122518

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16390587 (031306ZJUN22) Notable: Inside Bubs Australia's US formula mission and the call with POTUS

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>>123773

>>123826

Inside Bubs’ US formula mission and the call with POTUS

Carrie LaFrenz - Jun 3, 2022

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When Bubs Australia executive chairman Dennis Lin and founder CEO Kristy Carr wrote to both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill in May about lending a hand in the United States’ growing baby formula crisis, they never imagined that a couple of weeks later Ms Carr would be presenting to US President Joe Biden.

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for the ASX minnow that makes infant formula and baby snacks. The flurry culminated in the wee hours of Thursday when Ms Carr gave a virtual speech to the most powerful man on the planet from Bubs’ warehouse in Dandenong South in Melbourne’s south-east.

Bubs was thrust onto the global stage this week after responding to the crisis that had erupted in the US as families experienced chronic shortages of formula following the February closure of a Michigan plant because of a contamination scare. Supply was already tight due to supply chain disruptions.

The company offered to supply much-needed tins of “white gold” after President Biden called the baby formula crisis a national priority and launched Operation Fly Formula.

Abbott Laboratories accounts for about 40 per cent of the formula market in the US, and the affected factory was one of its biggest. It was due to reopen on Saturday.

The US shortage is so acute that Mr Biden invoked decades-old wartime powers that require US suppliers to provide needed resources to manufacturers before any other customers.

Bubs is helping to alleviate the supply issues after this week securing a deal to send more than 1 million tins to the US, a deal Mr Biden endorsed on Twitter.

Ms Carr took part in the roundtable with other heads of big infant formula players overnight on Wednesday. She was the only woman in the group speaking to the president.

Mr Lin said when Ms Carr gave her speech, he had tears in his eyes.

“It was a genuinely proud moment, not just for Kristy but for all the Bubs team behind the company. All the way down here in Australia, for the founder and CEO to be invited to a roundtable by the most powerful office – it’s incredible. It just shows that we are doing something that you know is actually truly helping,” he told AFR Weekend.

In a statement, Mr Biden said the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services were authorised to use Department of Defence-contracted commercial aircraft to pick up overseas infant formula that met US health and safety standards.

“I thank the guys from Down Under,” the president told reporters.

The market valuation of Bubs rocketed $115 million higher on Monday after news of the deal.

But it has been anything but easy to get to this moment.

Weeks earlier, Bubs was one of the first companies to submit an application after the US Food and Drug Administration allowed new brands into the US – a $US4.3 billion ($6.1 billion) formula market that has been dominated by four local players. Bubs toddler formulation gained FDA approval last year, giving it a head start over larger rivals.

A war room was set up and the project codename, Maverick, was inspired by the new Top Gun movie. Blue inflatable camping mats have been set up at the Deloraine facility as teams work around the clock.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395527 (041238ZJUN22) Notable: Video: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says resetting China–Australia relations requires 'concrete action'

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>>123753

>>123832

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says resetting China–Australia relations requires 'concrete action'

Natalie Whiting - 4 June 2022

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China says a "political force" in Australia that views it as a rival and its development as a threat has been responsible for the deterioration of the relationship between the two countries.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi made comments about China–Australia relations to members of the Chinese media while visiting Papua New Guinea.

Mr Wang said a reset in the relationship required "concrete actions" and that there was "no autopilot".

"The crux of the difficulties in China–Australia relations in the past few years is that some political force in Australia insists on viewing China as a rival rather than a partner and framing China's development as a threat rather than an opportunity," a statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"This has led to a significant retrogression of the many-year positive and pragmatic China policy by Australia.

"The solution is looking at China and China–Australia relations in a sensible and positive way, uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while shelving differences, and create the necessary conditions for bringing bilateral relations back on the normal track."

The comments came as Mr Wang finishes an eight-country tour of the Pacific region that has raised concerns in Washington and Canberra.

In the wake of his trip, Australia's new Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, also flew flown to the region, visiting Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

China has signed more than 50 agreements while touring Pacific countries but failed to convince 10 nations to sign on to a sweeping regional trade and security deal.

It now appears discussions around that agreement could be delayed until next year and could lead to the creation of a new sub-regional discussion forum between China and the 10 Pacific nations that have diplomatic relationships.

Agreements signed in Timor-Leste

Mr Wang finished his unprecedented tour in Timor-Leste on Saturday.

On the final leg of his trip, he held a series of meetings with Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and former president Xanana Gusmao.

The two countries also signed several agreements on issues such as civil aviation, agriculture and increased economic and technical cooperation, and a media licensing agreement.

He flew into Timor-Leste from Port Moresby, where he had meetings with PNG's Foreign Minister and Prime Minister during a very brief visit.

The limited schedule in PNG was likely due to the fact the country is in the midst of an election campaign, but Prime Minister James Marape hit back at criticism that the timing was awkward or inappropriate.

"Although we were not the principle point of visit to the Pacific, we are privileged to have received him," he said.

"China–PNG relationship cannot be compromised or sabotaged — it's a very important relationship."

In PNG, minor agreements were signed on promoting investment in green development, aid for COVID-19 and the development of an anti-narcotics centre.

'Give the Australian journalist a chance'

There has been criticism about the limited media access given during Mr Wang's tour.

In Port Moresby, a joint press conference was scheduled but as it was about to start, media were told that after both ministers had spoken, only one Chinese journalist and one PNG journalist could ask a question of their own foreign minister.

Solomon Islands journalists boycotted a press conference when similar rules were set in advance there.

However, when Mirriam Zarriga, a reporter from PNG daily paper The Post Courier, asked a question about the Solomons security deal, both the PNG and Chinese foreign ministers responded.

So, at last, a pacific journalist was able to ask a question and get a response from Mr Wang.

At the end of the press conference, Mr Wang then made a point of calling on the ABC to also ask a question.

"The host country asked one question while China asked another," he said in Mandarin.

"It seems that reporters from Australia have always wanted to ask questions."

He turned to his PNG counterpart as he finished, saying: "If my friend agrees, we will give the Australian journalist a chance."

The ABC asked Mr Wang about the inability to get the 10 Pacific nations to sign on to the proposed regional deal, and if he viewed his trip as a success.

Following the joint press conference as PNG media were interviewing Mr Marape, Chinese media conducted a separate interview where Mr Wang made the comments about the relationship between Australia and China.

In Timor-Leste, journalists protested the ban on questions to the Foreign Minister ahead of the press conference and Mr Wang then agreed to speak to journalists.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395534 (041244ZJUN22) Notable: Wang Yi proposes 3 points for developing ties with S.Pacific countries, urges Australia to stop viewing China as an adversary - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

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>>123838

Wang Yi proposes 3 points for developing ties with S.Pacific countries, urges Australia to stop viewing China as an adversary

Global Times - Jun 03, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on developing countries to treat others equally, help each other, and focus on development, as he summarized three keywords on how China develops friendly relations with other countries, including the South Pacific countries, at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe of Papua New Guinea, concluding a 10-day visit to the South Pacific.

Wang also urged Australia to improve relations with China and stop seeing China as an adversary.

The first keyword is "Treat others as equals." Wang said China treats every country equally, especially smaller countries. Given its own experience in history, China fully understands the value and importance of "equality" for developing countries, especially small and medium-sized countries. Unlike some other major powers, China will never start "from a position of strength" or keep talking about being a world leader during exchanges with other countries.

Wang noted that international relations should be democratized, and world affairs should be handled through consultation by all countries. What regulates the democratization should only be the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and universally recognized international laws, rather than the so-called rules formulated by a certain major country or a small number of countries on their own.

The second key word is "Help each other." Wang noted that developing countries, especially small and medium-sized countries, are weak in international status and can hardly have their voice heard. In order to safeguard developing countries' common interests and small and medium-sized countries' legitimate rights to development, developing countries must help and support each other, unify and amplify their voices, coordinate and strengthen their common positions, and firmly and consistently oppose all bullying and hegemons. In doing so, the world will gradually become more balanced and truly harmonious.

The third key word is "Focus on development." Wang said that development, revitalization, improvement of people's livelihood and increase of national strength are the common mission and urgent task of all developing countries as well as small and medium-sized countries. The 21st century is the time for developing countries to thrive.

Wang pointed out that deepening economic and trade cooperation should be the theme and goal of developing countries, who should jointly remove all obstacles that hinder them from accelerating development.

At the same time, Wang said developing countries call on Western countries to increase input and support for development and refrain from being paranoid about geopolitical competition or using smaller countries as pawns for political exploitation.

Wang said that, with an inclusive attitude, China is always ready to carry out trilateral or multilateral cooperation with developed countries that are willing to cooperate in Pacific Island countries and other developing countries to achieve all-win and win-win outcomes.

He stressed that China's diplomacy is different from that of conventional major powers. What China hopes to achieve is common development and rejuvenation with other developing countries; and that China promotes major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics; what China strives for is building a community with a shared future for mankind.

On the occasion, Wang also talked about the future prospect of China-Australia relations.

Wang said the crux of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in recent years lies in the fact that some political forces in Australia are determined to see China as an adversary rather than a partner and portray China's development as a threat rather than an opportunity. This has led to a significant reversal of Australia's previous positive and pragmatic policy toward China.

According to Wang, the solution to the problem is that Australia should view China and its relations with China rationally and positively, respect China and seek common ground while putting aside differences, creating necessary conditions for the two countries' relations to return to the right track.

Wang stressed that there is no "autopilot" mode for China-Australia relations. Concrete actions are needed to reset bilateral ties. This conforms to the aspirations of the two peoples and the trend of the times.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1267228.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395548 (041250ZJUN22) Notable: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China - Wang Yi: To improve China-Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode, and a reset requires concrete actions

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>>123838

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Wang Yi: To improve China-Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode, and a reset requires concrete actions

2022-06-03

During his visit to PNG on 3 June 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded to a question on the future prospects of China-Australia relations.

State Councilor Wang noted that the crux of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in the past few years is that some political force in Australia insists on viewing China as a rival rather than a partner and framing China’s development as a threat rather than an opportunity. This has led to a significant retrogression of the many-year positive and pragmatic China policy by Australia.

State Councilor Wang said that the solution is looking at China and China-Australia relations in a sensible and positive way, uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while shelving differences, and create the necessary conditions for bringing bilateral relations back on the normal track.

State Councilor Wang stressed that to improve China-Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode. A reset requires concrete actions. This meets the aspirations of people in both countries and the trend of our time.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202206/t20220603_10698475.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395571 (041302ZJUN22) Notable: Chinese Consulate General in Sydney Tweet: Video: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi: to improve China-#Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode. A reset requires concrete actions. This meets the aspirations of people in both countries and the trend of our time.

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>>123838

Chinese Consulate General in Sydney Tweet

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi: to improve China-#Australia relations, there is no “auto-pilot” mode. A reset requires concrete actions. This meets the aspirations of people in both countries and the trend of our time.

https://twitter.com/ChinaConSydney/status/1532995822790463494

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395696 (041354ZJUN22) Notable: Australian PM honours Queen Elizabeth amid renewed republican debate - Anthony Albanese renames Canberra's Aspen Island to Queen Elizabeth II Island, describing it as a "fitting salute" to the monarch

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Australia PM honours Queen Elizabeth amid renewed republican debate

Samuel McKeith - June 4, 2022

SYDNEY, June 4 (Reuters) - Australia's new prime minister honoured Queen Elizabeth in Canberra on Saturday amid celebrations for her 70 years on the throne and renewed debate about Australia becoming a republic.

Anthony Albanese, whose centre-left Labor party ended almost a decade of conservative government in a May 21 general election, renamed the capital's Aspen Island as Queen Elizabeth II Island, describing it as a "fitting salute" to the monarch.

"Today we celebrate her long life and 70 years of service to Australia and the Commonwealth, including no less then 16 visits to our shores," Albanese said at a ceremony in Canberra.

Earlier this week, Albanese joined more than 50 Commonwealth leaders in praising the queen amid her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, but added that Australia's relationship with the monarchy had matured, fuelling debate about becoming a republic.

Discussion about whether Australia should become a republic was re-ignited on Tuesday when Albanese named the country's first "assistant minister for the republic" in his ministry.

Debate over whether the nation should become a republic has continued for decades in Australia, which was colonised by the British in 1788 and remains a key Commonwealth member. The queen is Australia's head of state.

A 1999 national referendum on the issue went in favour of maintaining the status quo, 55% to 45%.

Albanese has previously indicated his support for republicanism, but his government is expected to wait until a second term to advocate for a formal break from the monarchy.

https://www.reuters.com/world/australia-pm-honours-queen-elizabeth-amid-renewed-republican-debate-2022-06-04/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/16395713 (041359ZJUN22) Notable: Spanish Court Demands Pompeo Testify on Apparent Plot to Kill Assange - Donald Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been ordered to appear in a Spanish court to explain a possible U.S. government plot to kidnap and assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

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>>123764

Spanish Court Demands Pompeo Testify on Apparent Plot to Kill Assange

Rachel Olding - Jun. 03, 2022

Donald Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been ordered to appear in a Spanish court to explain a possible U.S. government plot to kidnap and assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, ABC Spain reports, citing legal sources close to the case. Yahoo News broke the news of the alleged 2017 plot last September, reporting that Trump’s then-CIA Director Pompeo wanted revenge after WikiLeaks published a massive trove of sensitive CIA hacking tools. “They were seeing blood,” an ex- Trump national security official told Yahoo. Separately, Spain’s National Court has been probing a Spanish security firm that may have spied on Assange for the CIA while providing security for the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. National High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz agreed to summon Pompeo and former U.S. counterintelligence official William Evanina as witnesses to explain whether a plot was drawn up. They must appear in June and can testify via videoconference. Pompeo has not yet commented on the ruling.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/spanish-court-demands-mike-pompeo-testify-on-apparent-plot-to-kidnap-or-kill-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange

https://www.abc.es/espana/abci-audiencia-nacional-cita-exsecretario-estado-eeuu-202206030238_noticia.html