VANGUARD - Expressing the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
For National Independence and Socialism • www.cpaml.org
The recent accepted invitation of a number of countries' heads of state (including Russia, North Korea and Iran) to China's commemoration of the defeat of Japan in China in 1945 and the huge military parade in Beijing has made headlines in all the mainstream capitalist media in Australia.
The media concentrated not on the commemoration of the defeat of Japanese fascism by anti-imperialist forces in China (which, incidentally tied down a million Japanese troops who could otherwise have headed towards Australia), but on the military might of China on display and the fact that former state ALP Premiers Daniel Andrews and Bob Carr were invited and attended the commemoration.
Daniel Andrews received the most attention by the capitalist media, led as usual by the Murdoch Press, because he appeared in a group photo which included Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean leaders, which the Murdoch Press called "dictators".
When quizzed in federal parliament about the presence of Daniel Andrews in the photo and at the military parade in Beijing, Prime Minster Albanese distanced himself from both Carr and Andrews’ presence and made it clear that "his government" would never be seen in the same photo with the likes of Putin or North Korean leaders.
When interviewed by the 7.30 Report on ABC, Bob Carr said that he saw nothing wrong with being in China for the commemoration and that China was Australia's main trading partner.
Daniel Andrews did not appear on TV but made it clear that he had a business consultancy and a lot of business with business entities in China.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan defended Daniel Andrews attendance and said how important were the economic relations between China and Victoria.
In the background of the media frenzy was a post by Trump on social media saying that the whole event in Beijing was meant to be China amplifying its military might and power for the US to see.
A day or so later, Albanese is reported to be in a hook up with the US and European powers discussing commitment to military support for Ukraine if/when the war in Ukraine ends.
Lunchtime Politics:
So what is going on here?
As some workers in their lunch break said to me. "What the f....k are our politicians doing? Both Labor PM and Liberals are so tied up with the Yanks, while other parts of Labor and people like Twiggy Forrest are feathering their own business interests by hooking up with China which is overtaking the US!"
Then one of the workers added " Yeah and look at our self-defense compared with the military parade in Beijing! And all our governments do for self-defense is handover Australia to the military needs of the Yanks! We'll become a target if there's a war between the US and China"
Another worker rounded off the discussion by saying " We need to be Switzerland. What I mean is - be independent of both of them."
That was the end of the lunch break, ending on what was a thoughtful note