In the last years of his life, Malcolm Fraser advocated for an independent foreign policy. He feared that one day there would be a war between the US and China and believed Australia could only lose if it took sides. This ABC RN interview would suggest that Australia’s national broadcaster has taken sides, without consideration for the interests of the Australian people or the country. 

It is extraordinarily irresponsible of the ABC to present unabashed US ‘propaganda’ for a war on China when Australia should be encouraging action to combat climate change, pandemics, extremism, racism and poverty. War only exacerbates these. 

Susan Dirgham – complaint letter to the ABC, 14 April 2021

The author is in the front centre at a demonstration in Melbourne.

In his landmark 1967 ‘Beyond Vietnam‘ address, Martin Luther King expressed the sentiments of millions of anti-war activists across the globe. He was not a ‘stooge of the communists’. He had researched the war and took a stand against what he termed the three ‘evils’ of racism, poverty and militarism. He described America as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world”.  

Complaint letter regarding Hamish MacDonald’s interview on RN Breakfast (8/4/2021)

Chinese Ambassador’s press conference on Xinjiang unlikely to change any minds, ABC RN Breakfast, 8 April 2021

What does it mean when Hamish MacDonald, one of the ABC’s ‘best and brightest’, interviews Nathan Ruser from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) about China (RN Breakfast 8/4/2021) as if Ruser and his employer were disinterested and reliable sources on China? 

ASPI’s funders include the Defence Department, US and UK governments, the US embassy, major weapons manufacturers (Lockheed Martin and the Naval Group), and, interestingly, a former employer of Scott Morrison – the Property Council of Australia.

Does MacDonald’s blatant lack of impartiality in his RN Breakfast interview with Ruser demonstrate that on geopolitical matters the ABC unashamedly supports America’s defence and foreign policy even though this breaches ABC’s Code of Practice and risks compromising the trust Australians have in the ABC? 

This complaint directly concerns MacDonald’s breaching the ABC Code of Practice in that 8/4/2021 interview with Ruser about a press conference given the previous day by China’s ambassador in Canberra. The conference concerned Xinjiang.

Standards that were breached in the RN Breakfast interview include: 

2.2 Do not present factual content in a way that will materially mislead the audience. In some cases, this may require appropriate labels or other explanatory information. 

MacDonald materially misled the audience by accepting claims presented by his guest as irrefutable despite their controversial nature. He also failed to inform listeners that his guest’s employer, ASPI, is funded by bodies which could be assumed to represent the geopolitical interests of the United States and its western allies as well as the material interests of weapons manufacturers. Labour Senator Kim Carr has drawn attention to the controversial nature of ASPI.

In a Financial Review article, ’The think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China’ (15/2/2020), APSI was presented as ‘the Department of Defence-backed’ think tank that ‘has become a flashpoint in the breakdown of consensus in Beijing’. 

Myriam Robin, the article’s author, reported:

On Tuesday in the Australian Senate, Labor’s Kim Carr rose to his feet, thundering about “hawks intent on fighting a new cold war”. In his sights was the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which he said was taking nearly $450,000 from the US State Department (ASPI says the true figure is less than half that amount) to track Chinese research collaborations with Australian universities, “vilifying and denigrating” Australian researchers and their work.

The think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China, by Myriam Robin, 15 Feb 2020, Financial Review

MacDonald also misled the audience by not informing listeners that Ruser’s claims and similar ones about Xinjiang are contested by independent investigative journalists and researchers in the US and Canada. (See reference list below.) 

MacDonald and Ruser failed to reference major concerns expressed at the ambassador’s press conference, namely terrorism, extremism, and separatist violence. By ignoring these issues, MacDonald materially misled his audience and showed a lack of trust in the listeners to make up their own minds about the very complex, deep-rooted security challenges China confronts. (NB: As well as terrorist attacks in China, Uyghur separatists were convicted of a 2015 attack in Bangkok that killed 20 tourists. Also, Uyghur separatists receive funding from America’s National Endowment for Democracy, set up by Ronald Reagan to present a cleaner face to the tarnished CIA’s.)

4.1 Gather and present news and information with due impartiality.

This RN Breakfast program breached Standard 4.1 when MacDonald stated that the ambassador’s press conference was part of a “propaganda campaign” by the “Chinese Communist Party”. 

4.3 Do not state or imply that any perspective is the editorial opinion of the ABC.

MacDonald’s bold assertion that China’s ambassador was presenting the ‘propaganda’ of the ‘Chinese Communist Party’ could have been viewed as the editorial opinion of the ABC. He presented this point with conviction. Yet, it is an opinion which many in the community (particularly Chinese Australians and Australians who have knowledge of China or who have investigated these matters for themselves) would not share. Furthermore, many Australian businesses that trade with China would not wish the ABC to promulgate such a disrespectful and shallow response to the ambassador’s press conference. It risks any chance of Australia re-establishing a good trading partnership with China.

4.4 Do not misrepresent any perspective.

By omitting concerns about terrorism, extremism, and separatist violence mentioned in the press conference, MacDonald misrepresented the perspective of the ambassador. It is fair to assume, ABC listeners would view the above as legitimate concerns of any country that has experienced acts of terror, and so worthy of RN Breakfast’s attention. 

Furthermore, MacDonald and his guest misrepresented the ambassador by omitting reference to points he raised about economic prosperity and ethnic harmony. How does China, a country with many ethnic groups, an immense population, and a history of abject poverty that predates CCP rule, show care for its people? 

4.5 Do not unduly favour one perspective over another. 

In this RN Breakfast interview, MacDonald unduly favoured a perspective that conforms with the claims of ‘hawks’ intent on ‘a new cold war’ (using Senator Kim Carr’s words).  

This is evidenced by MacDonald’s characterisation of the ambassador’s press conference as ‘propaganda’; by his not qualifying any of the claims made by Ruser; by his ignoring research findings that challenge Ruser’s; and by his ignoring the legitimate concerns of people in China, particularly in Xinjiang, in regard to terrorism, extremism, separatist violence and poverty. 

7.7 Avoid the unjustified use of stereotypes or discriminatory content that could reasonably be interpreted as condoning or encouraging prejudice. 

The picture MacDonald’s presents of China’s ambassador is a stereotype that could encourage prejudice. 

China is not the CCP. China’s history, literature, spiritual traditions and schools of philosophy have provided its people with moral guidance and wisdom for many centuries. Considering the complexity of the history of Xinjiang and of the problems faced by the people there, MacDonald’s designation of China’s ambassador as a propagandist points to a general Australian cluelessness that borders on racism.

Conclusion

The sort of bias presented in this RN Breakfast program risks further straining Australia’s relations with China. 

In the last years of his life, Malcolm Fraser advocated for an independent foreign policy. He feared that one day there would be a war between the US and China and believed Australia could only lose if it took sides. This ABC RN interview would suggest that Australia’s national broadcaster has taken sides, without consideration for the interests of the Australian people or the country. 

It is extraordinarily irresponsible of the ABC to present unabashed US ‘propaganda’ for a war on China when Australia should be encouraging action to combat climate change, pandemics, extremism, racism and poverty. War only exacerbates these. 

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References:  

Chinese Ambassador’s press conference on Xinjiang unlikely to change any minds, ABC RN Breakfast, 8 April 2021

Agents of influence — what about the Australian Strategic Policy Institute?

by John Menadue, 6 December 2017, Michael West Media

The think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China, by Myriam Robin, 15 Feb 2020, Financial Review

Funding Sources, ASPI webpage

Demystifying Xinjiang and the Uighers with Carl Zha, audio interview with Esha, May 2020, historic.ly

Uyghurs in Syria, Dec 2017, The Diplomat

UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT BUILDS ON WORK OF NED GRANTEES, 29 May 2020, US National Endowment for Democracy

National Endowment for Democracy, Wikipedia 

Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy, by William Blum

China state media claim Xinjiang conspiracy hidden in old video of retired US colonel, by Holly Chik, 21 March 2021, South China Morning Post

Malcolm Fraser warns Australia risks war with China unless US military ties cut back, Mark Kenny, 25 April 2014, Sydney Morning Herald

Labor Senator Kim Carr blasts ‘Cold War warriors’ after call for permits for Chinese scientists, by Katie Burgess, 14 August 2019, Canberra Times

China-Australia relations: trade minister Dan Tehan says businesses must help Canberra repair ties with Beijing, by Su-Lin Tan, 8 April 2021, China Macro Economy

US State Department accusation of China ‘genocide’ relied on data abuse and baseless claims by far-right ideologue, by Gareth Porter and Max Blumenthal, 18 February 2021, The Grayzone 

China detaining millions of Uyghurs? Serious problems with claims by US-backed NGO and far-right researcher ‘led by God’ against Beijing, by Max Blumenthal and Ajit Singh, 21 December 2019, The Grayzone

‘Independent’ report claiming Uyghur genocide brought to you by sham university, neocon ideologues lobbying to ‘punish’ China, by Ajit Singh, 17 March 2021, The Grayzone

Inside the World Uyghur Congress: The US-backed right-wing regime-change network seeking the ‘fall of China’, by Ajit Singh, 5 March 2020, The Grayzone

 “Wipe out China!” US-funded Uyghur activists train as gun-toting foot soldiers for empire, by Ajit Singh, 31 March 2021, The Grayzone

Democracy Now amplifies State Department propaganda campaign against China behind progressive cover, by Danny Haiphong, 22 February 2021, The Grayzone

Max Blumenthal’s speech at “Genocide in Xinjiang?”, 25 March 2021, Youtube video

The Point: Debunking anti-China allegations with Daniel Dumbrill, 31 March 2021, CGTN (Chinese media – video interview)

Human Rights Watch is Roundly Criticized By… Human Rights Activists, World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates