Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by gheath
Silent Invasion: China's Influence In Australia by Clive Hamilton
5.0
It will take ten years to root out Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in Australia says Clive Hamilton at the end of his breathtaking book, Silent Invasion: China’s Influence In Australia (2018).
As a former student of Chinese politics, and long-time resident of Greater China, I didn’t think I had much to learn about the shenanigans of the CCP. I therefore picked this book up dolefully, more or less knowing what it would tell me. But actually I found it uplifting insofar as Clive Hamilton, who is not a China specialist, reveals in lucid detail how the CCP has gained such a pernicious influence over Australians and Australia’s economy. This is encouraging because once a problem has been so clearly explained, there is really no excuse for not dealing with it.
And I learned a lot from this book, I mean about the details of the CCP’s infiltration of Australia since 2004. The individuals, organisations, suborganisations, methods and domains, including Australian politicians, used by the CCP are analysed by Hamilton in a way that is well informed and meticulously presented. Clive’s controlled anger makes the narrative all the more compelling.
What makes me personally angry is the naivete and greed of many non-Chinese Australians. You would think they’d learn by experience. Instead, they get themselves deeper in the mire, finally becoming vocal puppet supporters of pro-Beijing policies because that is so much easier and financially rewarding than pushing back on the cronyism. The essential problem, as Hamilton demonstrates, is that the CCP cannot be taken at face value. Their long-term strategic goals and intentions are well concealed. They use democracy to undermine democracy. This is very problematic. Getting the Port of Darwin back under national control, for example, is not going to be easy. The cat is out of the bag as one informant put it.
So, implies the author, if you think China is your future, think again. Stop to talk to some of the Chinese Australians who tried to warn you about the CCP. Take some time to research communist China’s behaviour past and present. Be aware that the CCP and China are not equivalents, and that the problem is not ‘China’ per se, but the genocidal CCP, who have co-opted and brainwashed the Chinese people at home and abroad. You are on their target list. Don’t trust Australian politicians who tell you they know China, because even if they have schmoozed with CCP agents and CCP proxies, they really don’t know what they are getting you into.
The conclusion one comes to after reading this book is that democracy must come before money, or pretty soon Australia won’t be any kind of democracy.
As a former student of Chinese politics, and long-time resident of Greater China, I didn’t think I had much to learn about the shenanigans of the CCP. I therefore picked this book up dolefully, more or less knowing what it would tell me. But actually I found it uplifting insofar as Clive Hamilton, who is not a China specialist, reveals in lucid detail how the CCP has gained such a pernicious influence over Australians and Australia’s economy. This is encouraging because once a problem has been so clearly explained, there is really no excuse for not dealing with it.
And I learned a lot from this book, I mean about the details of the CCP’s infiltration of Australia since 2004. The individuals, organisations, suborganisations, methods and domains, including Australian politicians, used by the CCP are analysed by Hamilton in a way that is well informed and meticulously presented. Clive’s controlled anger makes the narrative all the more compelling.
What makes me personally angry is the naivete and greed of many non-Chinese Australians. You would think they’d learn by experience. Instead, they get themselves deeper in the mire, finally becoming vocal puppet supporters of pro-Beijing policies because that is so much easier and financially rewarding than pushing back on the cronyism. The essential problem, as Hamilton demonstrates, is that the CCP cannot be taken at face value. Their long-term strategic goals and intentions are well concealed. They use democracy to undermine democracy. This is very problematic. Getting the Port of Darwin back under national control, for example, is not going to be easy. The cat is out of the bag as one informant put it.
So, implies the author, if you think China is your future, think again. Stop to talk to some of the Chinese Australians who tried to warn you about the CCP. Take some time to research communist China’s behaviour past and present. Be aware that the CCP and China are not equivalents, and that the problem is not ‘China’ per se, but the genocidal CCP, who have co-opted and brainwashed the Chinese people at home and abroad. You are on their target list. Don’t trust Australian politicians who tell you they know China, because even if they have schmoozed with CCP agents and CCP proxies, they really don’t know what they are getting you into.
The conclusion one comes to after reading this book is that democracy must come before money, or pretty soon Australia won’t be any kind of democracy.