They have never cared for diplomatic niceties nor considered that the global governance framework applies to them. However, they have now effectively declared a cold war with Australia, seeking to punish us for daring to speak against their demands.
Not content with trade sanctions, the CCP have now doctored up an image of an Australian digger threatening to cut the throat of an Afghan child. It is a shameful reference to the recent, unproven findings of the Brereton report on the conduct of a small group of soldiers.
The disgraceful Chine propaganda
That a nation state has been reduced to such pathetic actions says a lot about them.
Remember, this is the same crew who lie, kill and convict their way to absolute authority at home. They also seek to intimidate, bully and bribe those abroad, all while undertaking covertly hostile acts.
The CCP have repeatedly stolen commercial data from competitors, hacked into national security systems and sought to influence domestic affairs. Not just in Australia but throughout the world.
They are the gangsters of international relations.
Part of their modus operandi is to make other economies reliant on their financial largesse. Then, like any addict, getting yourself off the cash drip becomes a very painful experience.
That's why so many Australian business people want us to surrender. They only care about making money. To hell with the rest of the nation and our future!
However we can't pretend that the CCP trade sanctions aren't already impacting our economy and that they could get much worse.
While the media focuses on wine and coal, there are other industries deeply affected by China's actions. Our $1 billion annual Southern Rock Lobster exports have effectively stopped. Instead China are buying from New Zealand where prices have experinced a massive rise.
There are many other industries in the same boat (excuse the pun) and I fear there are more on the way.
In the face of such aggresive action by the communist state, it is disturbing to hear local demands to bring Chinese students back into the country in order to keep our tertiary education sector solvent.
Once again, the cash is clouding the senses.
Why would we accept anyone from a nation state that has effectively declared economic war on us? Surely we should be denying all Chinese citizens all visa applications to come to Australia until these tensions are resolved.
After all, these citizens are only those approved to travel by their repressive government. It's likely they are the most compliant and sympathetic to the regimes goals. It's why they are so vocal on campus, often spying on other students for beijing and complaining about racism in grading.
It's also worth remembering that the Chinese government has repeatedly sought to compromise our higher education process through 'renting' lecturers and funding propaganda arms knows as 'Confucious Institutes'. In effect they are seeking to rewrite history in our own educational establishments.
It really is time we took a stand against the biggest bullies on the block. Sure it will cause some pain but look at the catalogue of complaints from various sectors that might be resolved.
If you want more affordable housing, less demand may support that. If you want more accessible education, fewer foreigners could fix that. If you want more affordable food products then less Chinese demand may make prices more competitive domestically.
I know it's not as simple as that but we have survived and prospered as a nation well before the rise of China.
It's time to stand up for Australian interests and break free of the communist economic enslavement.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
