Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said China is in a full-blown strategic competition with Western democracies. Since China is competing against Western democracies, Abbott said it “is a new and more dangerous Cold War than the old one that we successfully won in and around 1989.” “And we have to take these dictators seriously,” said Abbott on a Friday panel at the Canada Strong and Free Network (CSFN) National Conference in Ottawa. “When they say they are determined to take Taiwan, they mean it.” When China says it wants to be the world’s superpower by 2049, Abbott said it means it. He added China has shown its might with aggressive actions. At the moment, he called for Western democracies to stop being soft with China. However, he said distinctions need to be made between the Chinese people and their government. This is because the Chinese people are good. The Chinese government is the problem. The former prime minister went on to say Australia was the first country to take steps in the right direction to stand up to China. Australia was the first country to ban Huawei from the 5G network. It brought in foreign interference legislation. While the foreign interference legislation was positive, he said it was not as effective because honest foreign agents would sign up to the registry and dishonest ones would not. The largest problem he said Australia faced was too many people’s interests were tied up with China. Because of these interests, he pointed out it was easy for people to put their financial gain over their country. He admitted it takes a strong character to prioritize country over financial gain. He said China has bribed Pacific Island countries. Because these countries have been bribed, he asked what the solution is. He said they cannot be counter-bribed. Abbott concluded by saying people have not found an answer. “But we need to find an answer, because if we don’t find an answer quickly, we can easily discover we are reamed by a bunch of Chinese naval bases in our region,” he said. Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, ON) said he could not agree more with Abbott. “We all had great optimism in the early aughts when the People’s Republic of China was given most favoured nation status,” said Chong. “We thought that accompanying that would be improvements in their record on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.” That started to change when Chinese President Xi Jinping took power. By 2017, Chong said it “was clear this was a very different kind of leader.” The Bureau founder Sam Cooper started off the panel by thanking people for caring about China. “I think every one or most understand we’re at a crucial time for Canada and democracies in general,” said Cooper. “So we have a crucial and distinguished panel of experts.” Abbott said on a Wednesday panel at the CSFN National Conference conservatives should know what they stand for. READ MORE: Boris Johnson says conservatives should focus on liberty“John Howard used to say that the Liberal party, which is the conservative party in Australia, effectively we are the political custodian of the small-l liberal tradition of JS Mill and of the small-c conservative tradition of Edmund Burke,” he said. “I used to say that as Liberals, we support smaller government, lower taxes, greater freedom.”
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said China is in a full-blown strategic competition with Western democracies. Since China is competing against Western democracies, Abbott said it “is a new and more dangerous Cold War than the old one that we successfully won in and around 1989.” “And we have to take these dictators seriously,” said Abbott on a Friday panel at the Canada Strong and Free Network (CSFN) National Conference in Ottawa. “When they say they are determined to take Taiwan, they mean it.” When China says it wants to be the world’s superpower by 2049, Abbott said it means it. He added China has shown its might with aggressive actions. At the moment, he called for Western democracies to stop being soft with China. However, he said distinctions need to be made between the Chinese people and their government. This is because the Chinese people are good. The Chinese government is the problem. The former prime minister went on to say Australia was the first country to take steps in the right direction to stand up to China. Australia was the first country to ban Huawei from the 5G network. It brought in foreign interference legislation. While the foreign interference legislation was positive, he said it was not as effective because honest foreign agents would sign up to the registry and dishonest ones would not. The largest problem he said Australia faced was too many people’s interests were tied up with China. Because of these interests, he pointed out it was easy for people to put their financial gain over their country. He admitted it takes a strong character to prioritize country over financial gain. He said China has bribed Pacific Island countries. Because these countries have been bribed, he asked what the solution is. He said they cannot be counter-bribed. Abbott concluded by saying people have not found an answer. “But we need to find an answer, because if we don’t find an answer quickly, we can easily discover we are reamed by a bunch of Chinese naval bases in our region,” he said. Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, ON) said he could not agree more with Abbott. “We all had great optimism in the early aughts when the People’s Republic of China was given most favoured nation status,” said Chong. “We thought that accompanying that would be improvements in their record on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.” That started to change when Chinese President Xi Jinping took power. By 2017, Chong said it “was clear this was a very different kind of leader.” The Bureau founder Sam Cooper started off the panel by thanking people for caring about China. “I think every one or most understand we’re at a crucial time for Canada and democracies in general,” said Cooper. “So we have a crucial and distinguished panel of experts.” Abbott said on a Wednesday panel at the CSFN National Conference conservatives should know what they stand for. READ MORE: Boris Johnson says conservatives should focus on liberty“John Howard used to say that the Liberal party, which is the conservative party in Australia, effectively we are the political custodian of the small-l liberal tradition of JS Mill and of the small-c conservative tradition of Edmund Burke,” he said. “I used to say that as Liberals, we support smaller government, lower taxes, greater freedom.”
