At The Fake Left no less:
“No one is immune these days from arrest in China – tycoons, celebrities, journalists, the former head of Interpol – many people, both foreigners and locals, have disappeared into the Chinese justice system without clear explanations why,” Elaine Pearson, the head of Human Rights Watch Australia told Guardian Australia this week.
Beijing, for its part, denies that it engages in hostile diplomacy or that any of its arrests, charges and sentences against foreigners are anything other than the fair prosecution of its rule of law.
But Lei’s detainment follows a string of cases in which Australians have been caught up in China’s opaque legal system, including most recently the Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun, and the timing of the arrest raises significant questions.
…Pearson says Australia’s approach is not the most effective strategy. She says that extended to cases of Australians detained elsewhere overseas, including the academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert in Iran.
“It’s unclear why the government still persists with the idea that quiet diplomacy is going to save the day,” she said.
“Australia treats all these case like consular cases and I think that’s a mistake when it’s a political offence and someone’s being arbitrarily detained. Where cases are political it really demands a political response, and we see other governments often sending in envoys or people who have clout … and oftentimes that can bring results.”
But with the China-Australia relationship at such a low point, there’s going to be a greater effort required.
“This is also why Australia shouldn’t just wait til Australians find themselves running afoul of problematic laws. They should be expressing human rights concerns about these laws that have been used for years to wrongfully detain [anyone].”
Bravo. Muscle-up. Tariff iron ore an extra 5% every time they take a hostage. Bring the sunshine to every corner of the evil regime and its attempted takeover of Australia.
The question now is, will UNSW distance itself from the wonderfully outspoken Ms Pearson, an Adjunct Professor at the university? Take its own hostage, as it were?
With the new parliamentary inquiries into freedom of speech and Chinese corruption, Pearson seems to have it at something of a disadvantage.
