There really is no need to wonder any more why Australians have such overwhelmingly negative perspectives on China. In this article, I will highlight the latest in an avalanche of negativity.
Natasha Kassam falls under “Experts” at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank with some standing in Australia. Kassam is well placed to understand China and hence be able to give a balanced and accurate account of Chinese affairs, without having to revert to relentless negativity.
But, relentless negativity is fashion among Australian journalists, academics and think tank ‘experts’. Let us examine Kassam’s latest anti-China ‘commentary’.
‘WINTER GAMES HARDEN CHINA’S GLOBAL FREEZE’ (their capitalisation), was published in the Australian Financial Review and appearing on the Lowy Institute dated 14 January 2022.
There are 58 statements in the article. Here is a breakdown of the proportions of these statements that present a negative, neutral or positive view of China.
Combined with this overwhelming negativity is language which evokes negativity – 70 instances in one short article.
| abuse | 1 |
| assault | 1 |
| atrocities | 1 |
| backlash | 1 |
| borders | 2 |
| boycott | 6 |
| censored | 1 |
| challenge | 2 |
| coercion | 1 |
| complicity | 1 |
| concern | 2 |
| controversies | 1 |
| crackdown | 1 |
| crisis | 2 |
| demanding | 1 |
| detained | 1 |
| detention | 1 |
| divide | 3 |
| elimination | 1 |
| embroiled | 1 |
| executed | 1 |
| expansion | 1 |
| forced | 3 |
| foreign | 3 |
| fraught | 2 |
| freedoms | 1 |
| genocide | 1 |
| gold-tinted | 1 |
| hostages | 2 |
| hypocritical | 1 |
| lockdowns | 1 |
| lure | 1 |
| muzzle | 1 |
| nationalism | 1 |
| opaque | 1 |
| punished | 1 |
| rights | 2 |
| rise | 1 |
| risk | 2 |
| risks | 1 |
| scrutiny | 1 |
| shocks | 1 |
| shut | 1 |
| silenced | 1 |
| state-controlled | 1 |
| sterilisation | 1 |
| struggling | 2 |
| tensions | 1 |
| uncomfortable | 1 |
| warning | 1 |
| 70 |
Such negativity is not a anomaly in publications from the Lowy Institute, especially from Kassam.
Sadly, when media outlets look for expert opinion, it is the likes of Kassam that they turn to (for example, ABC’s latest propaganda 3 part series presenting modern Chinese ‘history’).
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” (attributed to Goebbels) If people only hear negativity on any issue, they will eventually come to believe it.