China's Xi Jinping-led Communist government's influence looms over Australian election

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s influence has been looming large over the Australian elections which are set to take place within a few days. Apart from the faces of the Australian election candidates which are plastered on the campaign posters across the island nation, the image of China’s Communist leader is also standing out among them. Even though Xi is not a participant, his presence has become familiar in Australia owing to a campaign dogged by allegations of foreign interference and partly fought on issues of national security, stated CNN. 

It is to note here that the Chinese President’s face is not only on billboards, but his name has even popped up in press conferences, interviews, and election debates involving Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, leading the Liberal-National coalition and Anthony Albanese, the Labour leader who seeks to replace the present administration. 

Even before the federal election campaign started, accusations were being floated that China wanted Labour to win in the upcoming polls. Just days out from the vote on May 21, public opinion polls, as per the report, suggest that a Labour government can come into power for the first time since 2013. However, the US media outlet stated that the public opinion polls are ‘notoriously unreliable'.

Most recently, during a leader’s debate, Albanese echoed the hardline stance of the Morrison-led government and said, “Xi has changed the nature of the Chinese Communist Party ... It's more forward-leaning. It's more aggressive. And that means that Australia, of course, must respond.” However, it still remains unclear how Australia-China ties would be impacted if Labour wins in the upcoming vote. 

The coalition, on the other hand, has suggested that Labour will be soft on China, which is a serious accusation by a government whose defence minister recently warned that Australia must “prepare for war” in order to preserve peace. But on paper, there is a little difference between both major parties on foreign policy.

Labour has said that it is committed to the AUKUS security pact, the deal Morrison struck with the US and the UK to move Australia away from dependency on France. Both the Labour and the coalition support the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), which is a four-way alliance between Australia, the US, India and Japan. QUAD leaders are set to meet next week in Tokyo after the election in Australia. 

Relevance of China-Australia ties

As per the report, China was always going to play a role in the Australian election. Beijing is not only a regional heavyweight but it also has major trade ties with Australia, which it relies on for iron ore and coal. Interestingly, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rise in his country is parallel with the coalition’s latest stint in government. Both Xi and the coalition took office in 2013 and since then the relations between China and Australia have deteriorated especially in the last six years.   

History of China-Labour connections

CNN has noted that some of the angst around China-Labour connections date back to 2016. Six years ago, it had emerged that a senior Labour senator and a wealthy Chinese businessman were linked, which prompted a closer inspection of alleged foreign political interference. 

As the links emerged, under then Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian government passed laws which prevented foreign donations to Australian political campaigns, among other measures. A ban was also introduced on Chinese telecom giants, including Huawei and ZTE from building Australia's 5G network. It was after the 5G ban that irked Chinese officials called on Canberra to "abandon (its) ideological prejudices." Subsequently in 2020, the Australia-China ties further deteriorated with Morrison batting for an investigation into COVID-19 origin in the Asian country. In retaliation, China imposed sanctions against Australian exports, including beef, barley, wine, and rock lobster. However, China continues to buy Australia's iron ore at near-record prices, according to the report. So, it has appeared that Australia hasn’t suffered significantly with measures taken by Beijing amid souring ties. 

Even though there's no consensus on the success of the Morrison government's approach to China, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Thursday that the Chinese Communist Party wanted Australia’s government to change on May 21 because the Labour government would attempt to appease Beijing.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the Chinese Communist Party would like to see a change of government at the May 21 election. No question at all,” Dutton said. However, the opposition defence spokesperson Brendan O’Connor dismissed Dutton’s allegations as “conspiracy theory”. O’Connor had said, "It’s not in this country’s interest for a political party to attack the other major political party on the basis of appeasing China — particularly when it’s untrue."

Additionally, Dutton said Senator Penny Wong who would become Labour’s foreign minister “believes that she can go to Beijing on a charm offensive and she could change the direction of China under President Xi”.

Who is putting up posters with Xi?

As Morrison’s Conservative-Liberal Party-led coalition is campaigning to stand up against Chinese coercion, a conservative lobby group Advance Australia has been displaying advertisements on the slides of the trucks showing Xi casting a vote for Labour. Notably, Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews last week suggested China’s announcement of a security pact with the Solomon Islands was deliberately timed to undermine her Liberal Party’s re-election prospects, stated The Associated Press. 

(Image: AP)