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Australian Polity, Volume 10 Number 1 & 2

March 2022 issue of Australian Polity

March 2022 issue of Australian Polity

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Even the religious institutions that are permitted to operate

under state licence are instructed to display photos of

Xi, sing patriotic songs and pray for the ‘martyrs of the

Red Army’ in temples and churches.

Some observers are now suggesting that Xi’s crackdown

on all aspects of society, including global private

enterprises, is the imposition of a ‘Cultural Revolution

2.1’. The circumstances of Mao Zedong’s Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution which he launched in 1966, leading to

the deaths of at least a million people, and Xi’s ‘profound

revolution’ differ greatly, but there is one common feature.

The programs of both Mao and Xi are centred on the

accretion of personal power. There is a ‘Xi Jinping Thought’

on almost every aspect of Chinese life, including the

construction of public toilets! If the CCP is becoming

nervous about the growing rejection of its policies, it

can blame Xi for his aggression.

Which brings us to the welcome announcement of a

new agreement between the US, UK and Australia. We

can only hope it is neither too late nor subverted by

vested interests. If Australia’s sovereignty and security

is seriously threatened in the future, a great deal of the

blame can be directed at parochial provincial politics

that distorted Australia’s national interest for more than

a decade. The government should seriously consider

leasing Los Angeles or Virginia Class submarines, the

secondment of Australian submariners and technicians

to the US fleet and a hybrid build to reduce the time frame

and costs to deliver the new vessels as soon as possible.

This article was first published in the Spectator Australia.

“If the CCP is becoming

nervous about the

growing rejection of its

policies, it can blame Xi

for his aggression.”

Australian Polity 17

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