The initial bipartisan pushback against notorious CCP(Chinese Communist Party) troll Zhao Lijiang in Australia this week was reassuring but the soft-pedalling from the opposition left since shows China’s soft power still runs deep in a country with dangerous levels of economic dependency on the world’s biggest nation.

Given the levels of diplomatic tension building between the two countries in recent years it was very 2020 that it was an offensive Tweet – not the spread of coronavirus, egregious human rights abuses in Hong Kong or Xinjiang, the threatening of shipping routes in the South China sea, arbitrary detention of Australian citizens or one of numerous unofficial trade sanctions that threatens billions of dollars of trade – that brought the biggest surge of CCP criticism yet. China has bombarded Australia with a series of sanctions over the past year and last month leaked a 14-point list of grievances with the Australian government via media, all of the demands along the lines of “stop criticizing the CCP.” The list was an outrageous affront to the fundamental freedoms of a democracy but didn’t raise as much of a storm as an offensive Tweet. After the 14-point list was handed to members of the press, Chinese embassy officials told reporters that China would use “international bodies to talk up about Indigenous Australians and treatment in aged care.” That suggestion didn’t raise much of a reaction, but clearly only because it wasn’t accompanied by offensive illustrations. The Tweet that crossed the line did though. It was sent from the account of Zhao Lijiang, who is deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department, but better known for his expert level internet trolling.

The Tweet contained a deeply disturbing photoshopped image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child, a reference to Australia’s release of an official report that details instances of war crimes by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.

This type of Tweet is standard practice for Zhao, a leading exponent of so-called “wolf warrior” diplomacy. His previous lowlights include being labelled racist for a series of Tweets about racial segregation in Washington and, earlier this year, a baseless claim that Coronavirus may have been brought to Wuhan by American military.

The doctored photo and accompanying comments that the Australian government should hold soldiers accountable (the alleged war crimes were made public after the type of enquiry that would never happen in China) was then amplified by suspected CCP-controlled bot accounts on the platform.

The response from Australia was fierce as Prime Minister Scott Morrison labeled the photoshopped image “repugnant” and even though leader of the opposition party Anthony Albanese was initially scathing, the stance from the Labor party left has softened in the days since.

The main criticism of Morrison was that he could have been more diplomatic in his response – a common refrain from the left, in which it seems every aggressive action by China is somehow Australia’s fault and that any criticism of China’s human rights should be measured against trade – and that he was whipping up nationalist sentiment.

Jingoistic nationalism is on-brand for a right-wing populist leader like Morrison, so that is hardly surprising, but why the long-running theme of self-blame and economic caution from the left when it comes to the deteriorating diplomacy?

The worrying aspect of the critical commentary of Morrison or calls for cooling the relationship with Beijing” to save trade, is how deep it runs with CCP propaganda lines and how hopelessly compromised and bereft of democratic virtues the critics seem to be in their relationship to China (virtues the same critics usually want to signal – government transparency and human rights among them – at every opportunity).

The aim of Zhao’s Tweet, or the mention of Australia’s appalling history of treatment of indigenous people, isn’t just to shock, it is to divide. On one hand it amplifies the worst traits of the right – the aforementioned nationalism and a dangerous tendency towards xenophobia – and arouses the apologetics, shame and bizzare CCP sympathies of the left.

Underscoring it all, and of far more concern, is the precarious economic dependency Australia has formed with China – more than one third of its trade – an imbalance that is enabling the blatant attempts at coercion.

This dependency would be unhealthy with any one country, but utterly disastrous when teaming with an aggressive and deeply corrupt regime with no rule of law and an atrocious human rights record.

The calls for diplomatic calm from the left will not age well, China’s rapid shift to strict authoritarianism, disregard for international law and expansionist vision ensure that. The wheels are already in motion for an easing of economic ties and the government must urgently seek to diversify trade.

Legislation that would allow the federal government to tear up state deals with China, like Victoria’s Belt & Road deal, is on its way, and soon Australia will be the latest country to legislate for the use of Magnitsky Act laws, with an obvious view to using them against CCP officials.

Perhaps the Prime Minister could have been calmer when responding to an internet troll – even if the troll was a prominent CCP official – as any right-wing leader should know: the golden rule of online debate is that “the first person to get mad first loses.” His attempt to use WeChat to make a statement in Chinese was laughable – it was of course censored – and a reminder to Baby Boomer grandads everywhere to stay off social media. They just don’t get it.

Still, it’s no excuse for the twisted apologetics that have followed from left-leaning media and the Labor Party. The window for meaningful dialogue with China has long closed, and it is time for Australia to form new alliances.

(Michael Cox is a journalist and Hong Kong permanent resident currently based in Australia. He has previously written for the South China Morning Post, The Age (Melbourne) and Australian Associated Press.)

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