AFR’s junket queen luxuriates in communist China

Does Sinofax have no standards left? Check this out from junket queen Jennifer Hewitt at the AFR today:

The nightmare for Crown’s 18 imprisoned employees is a terrifying example of the potential personal cost of doing business in China.

That includes the unpredictability of how and when China chooses to interpret and enforce its rules of acceptable behaviour. In this case, the combination of China’s anti-gambling stance and its protracted campaign to stamp out “corruption” appear to have made Crown and its flourishing high-roller marketing a very large target indeed.

…The Crown arrests are still seen in Canberra as company and gambling industry-specific – with some of the big gamblers associated with Crown being government officials or their party friends and associates.

…Australia and Australians remain well liked in China, for example, with extensive personal connections, many of them due to tourism and students. But the warning signs about Australia not treating China “fairly” are evident too.

Although the relatively modest media coverage of the arrests in China suggests it is not happening in this case, that sort of nationalist feeling can be easily whipped up.

Nowhere is that sense of selective self-righteousness more apparent than the extreme sensitivity in Beijing towards Australia’s criticism of China’s behaviour in the South China Sea. There is strong public support for the official view that China’s claim to historic territorial rights is totally justified, along with indignation that this could be even questioned.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s statement about the need to respect the ruling of the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague last July as binding and final is regarded as particularly egregious.

Jennifer Hewett was travelling in China this month as a guest of the Chinese government.

I have noted many times before that Ms Hewitt has a long history of junket journalism for anyone willing to pay. Now she’s gun for hire for the Chinese Communist Party.

Sinofax has form of course, from the ABC not long ago:

Times are tough, especially for newspapers and we can only assume that’s why Fairfax Media has recently agreed to take money from the Chinese for spreading their propaganda.

It also reflects, of course, how hard it is to make money in the media nowadays.

Ten days ago readers of The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Financial Review received this lift-out in their print editions.

Which came with the tell-tale admission that it was … prepared by China Daily, People’s Republic of China…And that its production: … did not involve the news or editorial departments…of the respective mastheads.

Let us recall the context for this…ahem…journalism, recently from the ABC:

A former Australian ambassador to China says Beijing’s influence here might become a thornier problem for the Federal Government than the dispute over the South China Sea.

The former diplomat said what made China’s influence peddling exceptional was that it brought “Australian and Chinese national interests, and values, into direct contention, challenging fundamentals of our system like freedom of speech and the media and enquiry, and the very validity of our political system”.

He pointed to the flow of Chinese Government funds though universities, the media and political parties saying it was designed to “generate among Australians and the Australian government a broad, uncritical approval of China’s government and its foreign policies”.

“Embassy and consulate officials have become more open in fronting universities and other institutions to voice displeasure at particular actions or decisions, with the suggestion that ‘China’ will not be happy if these are not changed or reversed,” Professor FitzGerald said.

…Professor FitzGerald described the push as “a soft power offensive with a hard edge”.

“Behind it lies the strategic foreign policy Xi has called a special ‘diplomacy for countries around China’s periphery’ (Australia being one such),” he said.

“The objective is to co-opt these countries to the enterprise of realising ‘China’s dream’, specifically its Great Power status and the legitimacy of its power ambitions.”

Time for the Australian media to ban foreign bribes.