Rogue state: experts warn on China threat

James Morrow - The Herald Sun - Wednesday 17 November 2021

CHINA is a “rogue regime” intent on“global domination”, according to former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who makes the shocking declaration in the second episode of the groundbreaking Sky News Australia documentary China Rising,airing on Wednesday.

“We face a reality where the world must acknowledge that the Chinese Communist Party is a rogue regime, that it is a regime that should not ever be considered to be a good actor in the international community, and it is a regime intent on global domination,” Mr Pompeo tells host Peter Stefanovic.

“This is a regime that doesn’t respect Western values, it doesn’t respect human life,and it is a party that is trampling on the rights of its own people. The pandemic and the actions they took there, I think were a flare, a signal to the world of the regime that sits in Beijing today and its intentions for how it will treat its own people and the rest of us as well.”

Mr Pompeo’s comments come amid rising tension between the US and China over a host of issues including the independence Taiwan.

On Tuesday local time US President Joe Biden held a virtual summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The US President said of the meeting that he was hoping both sides would talk “openly and honestly” to establish “rules of the road” to avoid conflict.

But experts in China Rising suggest this may easier said than done, with Beijing aiming not only to reunite with Taiwan – by force if necessary – but to become the dominant global superpower.James Paterson, Liberal senator and chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, urged Australia to pushback against China’s “bullying”.

Last year the Chinese embassy leaked a list of 14 grievances against Australia and said: “China is angry. If you make China the enemy, China will be the enemy.”

“The worst thing we could do is send the message that the bullying tactics that have been used against us are successful,” Senator Paterson said. “Because if we did that, we’d guarantee we’d get a whole lot more of it.”