China watch
While the Olympic torch was being run through Canberra I was otherwise involved in ANZAC Day prep and planning so had little chance to blog on the issue. I thought, given a couple of days the media would be investigating how come so many pro-Chinese Chinese arrived at Canberra in such an organized fashion. It was almost as if the Red Army had provided the convoy to move the troops.
No one has followed it up so I’ll say it. The move of the Chinese students was too slick to have been organized by a bunch of youths. Someone stepped in and organized and paid for the coaches from other cities and considering that the only organization that`stood to benefit is the Chinese government then it is a reasonable deduction that they planned the event.
If this is true then we should all feel very indignant that a foreign power is moving ‘troops’ around Australia for their political gain.
I certainly do.
The saga of the Red Chinese Guards torch minders being allowed on the streets to run with the torch and ‘protect’ it descended into chaos when the government backed down and left the matter to the poor AFP individual who we all witnessed on TV trying to muscle the Chinese away from the torch carrier.
It struck me as undignified and the world witnessed Australia abrogating it’s sovereignty to the Chinese.
Not happy, Kevin.
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Well, I don’t know whether there was more to this than meets the eye
but:
I am on the Do not call list which means telemarketers can’t call me.
Despite this, in the last 2 weeks before these protests I got called
up twice by some total stranger speaking Mandarin. Everytime I said
‘Sorry I don’t understand, I don’t speak Mandarin’ she hung up.
I could hear noise in the background like it was some mass dial up
operation but remember only ‘charities’ and ‘non profits’ can call me
as I’m on that anti-telemarketing list.
That’s weird and it does sound like you were targeted because of your surname…more grist for the mill. I see Club Troppo think I’m into paranoia but personally I think I’ve got the start of a good believable conspiracy theory.
There’s no question that the Chinese government was involved in organizing ex-pats during the torch relay, but I don’t see this as sinister or confined to Australia.
They did it everywhere else (Korea & Japan for example) and it was obvious that the goal was to get the best possible media.
The relay was well-managed by the AFP and the ACT police, and the spectacle of the track suited member of the PLA being “guided” was hilarious. At least here, they weren’t allowed to get physical with anyone – unlike what occurred in the UK and France.
The whole event was choreographed by the participants – the AFP, the ACT police, the Chinese Embassy and the IOC. For me the fascination lay in the fact that there were at least three different choreographers, which created the potential for disaster. In the end this didn’t happen essentially because of Canberra’s physical sterility.
Now if they had tried to run the torch through Cronulla…….
This puts it in perspective – (ABC on-line)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/29/2229755.htm?section=justin
Sterile Canberra with a devoted police force, a worried government and a desire by everyone, except the Tibetans, for a peaceful, not newsworthy passage of the torch through our streets.
I don’t think Britain was ‘the best possible media’ for China. Even they must have seen that they looked like thugs but the sea of Red Chinese flags in Canberra could be construed as good.
Cronulla is exactly where they should have run it.
just reading jason soon’s reply and i have the exact same call
even though i am also on the do not call register. it comes as
a private number so i cant trace them.