Detente with China must not pave the way for Carrara development

THE recent article by Keith Woods about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (‘Council loses the plot by censoring chilodren’s art, GCB, 16/5/18) and the letter by Pearce Dougherty that responded to it are timely.

There’s no doubt that China’s influence is creeping through Australian society, although many would be unaware of it. It is, as academic Clive Hamilton has described, a ‘Silent Invasion’.

Everywhere you look there are examples from schools and universities that have become hosts to the Chinese-sponsored Confucius Institutes, to local councils that respond to complaints from Chinese officialdom if something offends them, as in Keith Woods’ story.

This type of influence can be seen on the Gold Coast with the plan to build a theme park and high rises on environmentally sensitive floodplain in Carrara. The developers are Chinese company Songcheng and they have close ties to the Chinese Government. In fact, China’s Ministry of Culture has deemed this project as one of its ‘top’ priorities and has said it’s part of China’s controversial ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) policy.

The theme park will have the misleading name ‘Australian Legend World’ and is set to host ‘a variety of Australian and Chinese cultural and historical performances’. You can be quite sure that if you get to see these, the Chinese history will be carefully censored to present the sort of story China wants you to hear.

More significantly, however, OBOR is seen by many as a way for China to extend its ‘soft’ power throughout the world. Do we want that in Australia?

This weekend, our federal MP Steve Ciobo has been in China to see The Suns play Port Adelaide. For some time now, he and other Australian politicians have had difficulty getting visas to travel there as a consequence of China’s displeasure at comments made by Malcolm Turnbull about their interference in Australian politics. This visit is being seen as ‘football diplomacy’ to break the ice.

What will Mr Ciobo need to do to get them back on-side? He, and many other politicians and councillors have been wooed by Songcheng, hoping their theme park plan will gain their support. Tom Tate was entirely won over. Will this deal be one of the ‘bargaining chips’ that is discussed?

The hundreds of Gold Coasters who wrote submissions opposing Songcheng’s plan will be watching closely. We can only hope that unlike the Mayor of Rockhampton who conceded to China’s pressures, Steve Ciobo doesn’t do the same. ROSS JONES, CARRARA