A former Labor Cabinet minister has unleashed a scathing attack on Paul Keating for “defending” China’s atrocities during a National Press Club address.
Former Labor Cabinet minister Stephen Conroy says Paul Keating was “absolutely wrong” in his assessment of China’s role in the new global order.
The former prime minister played down China’s growing threat to Taiwan and western allies during an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, adding that Beijing was “not about turning over” the existing world system but only wanted to “reform it”.
However, Mr Conroy rebuffed the Labor stalwart’s characterisation of China and accused Mr Keating of turning a “blind eye” to President Xi Jinping’s relentless hold on power.
“He’s absolutely wrong, Paul was a legend of the Labor Party, he was an extraordinary economic reformer and he also had a footprint on the world stage,” Mr Conroy told Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt.
“But the world has fundamentally shifted since Xi took over.
“Paul can’t keep just waving his hand and dismissing the actions of the president of China.”
Mr Conroy said the Chinese dictator was “living in fear of his own people” which was evident in the build-up of a surveillance state designed to “suppress dissent”.
“He’s engaged in virtual genocide with the Uyghur population, and the propaganda that we’re all subjected to worldwide about how they’re really just… re-education (camps) for the Uyghur people should horrify people,” he said.
“To see Paul defending these atrocities really does leave me terribly disappointed.
“When Paul says they want to reform, they don’t want to reform they want control.”
The former Labor senator said Mr Keating was still holding an image of China based on the belief that “there would be a benign rise” in the global superpower, but it did not justify the former prime minister’s decision to “turn a blind eye, and to obfuscate”.
Mr Keating denied that China presented a “contiguous threat to Australia” and suggested Canberra needed to focus on rebuilding the relationship.
“China is now so big and it is going to grow so large, it will have no precedents in modern social economic history and therefore our challenge is to have the United States remain as a balancing and conciliatory power in Asia,” he said.
“China is simply too big and too central to be ostracised.”
The former prime minister also hit out at Labor’s policy stance towards the relationship with China and criticised shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong.
“There shouldn’t be an ounce of daylight between her (Ms Wong) and the Liberal Party,” he said.
“You have no big disputes because you're glued up onto the government, but you make no national progress.”
Mr Conroy lashed out at the former prime minister’s criticism of Ms Wong, praising Labor’s foreign spokeswoman for doing an “excellent job”.
“His criticism of Penny Wong was just terrible,” Mr Conroy said. “Penny is doing an excellent job in steering Australia through the most challenging foreign policy time in 25 years.”
https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2021-11-10 09:42:53Z
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