2022年3月18日，华东师范大学澳大利亚研究中心主任陈弘接受《环球时报》英文版采访，谈澳总理莫里森威胁对中国进行制裁。
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: VCG
Anyone with a sober mind could see clearly which country is behind the Ukraine crisis and which is inciting Kiev to exacerbate the situation. But not Scott Morrison.
The Australian prime minister reportedly said that his government would move in lockstep with its allies and partners to introduce sanctions against China if China were to provide military equipment to Russia. He even said that any move by China to arm Russia would be "an abomination."
Why didn't Australia suggest its US ally stop its military support to Ukraine, if the intention of Australia is to deescalate tensions? Both China and Russia have denied US allegation that China would provide military aid to Russia. Still, Australia chose to play with this disinformation, which only shows that it is a lackey of the US.
Australia has little stake in the Ukraine issue - it is not a NATO member, has no geopolitical entanglement with Ukraine, and is far away from Ukraine and Russia. The sole stake is to safeguard US interests within the framework of its alliance with the US, Qin Sheng, executive research fellow at Center for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
"Even the Australian top leader does not view his country as independent and sovereign, but positions it as a follower of the US. When he said that Australia 'will move in lockstep' with allies on sanctioning China, it actually indicates that Australia has no ability to do it alone," said Qin.
Morrison's bluff to side with allies to sanction China can only be viewed as a joke. China and Australia are not at the same level in terms of economic volume. Australia needs China's market much more than China needs Australia, and Australia's exports to China are either replaceable or can almost be ignored, according to Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University.
Australia's business ties with China have already suffered a great deal due to its worsening relations with its largest trading partner as a result of the Australian government's furious anti-China agenda. Before making any sanction moves, Australia should look to the US for some clues. In the past few years, Washington has kept imposing new sanctions on China - it waged a trade war with China, included Chinese high-tech companies to its exports watch list, and imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over a number of excuses. But in the end, Washington failed to get what it desired by imposing sanctions. "Australia touts itself as a 'middle power', but it is just a middle-sized economy which is biting off more than it can chew," Chen told the Global Times, adding that it will only invite countermeasures from China if Australia takes any substantive move. And even for the sake of the election campaign, Morrison should think about to what extent such rhetoric would work.
Talking about abomination, Australia has followed the US to commit a heinous massacre of civilians in Afghanistan, and justice has not yet been served. This is the real abomination.
