Latest / The Front / Ghost planes and a Stalinist monstrosity: China on parade

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Ghost planes and a Stalinist monstrosity: China on parade · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, September four, twenty twenty five. Antoinete Latouf wants
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  Speaker 1: the ABC to pay a penalty of more than three
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  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars for dropping her from two casual ABC
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  Speaker 1: Sydney Radio shifts. A Federal court hearing in the wake
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  Speaker 1: of Latouf's unfair dismissal victory has turned hotly emotional, with
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  Speaker 1: raised voices and Latouf's barrister asking the ABC's chief people
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  Speaker 1: officer if, as a diverse person she agreed with the
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  Speaker 1: organization's treatment of his client. Chief People Officer Dina Amarelli
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  Speaker 1: said she had personally apologized to Latouf, but stood by
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  Speaker 1: the ABC's position that it made an inadvertent mistake of
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  Speaker 1: law in dropping the presenter. You can read our detailed
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  Speaker 1: account of that fiery proceeding right now at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot au. Phenomenal flexing of military muscle that's
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  Speaker 1: designed to send the world a clear message. That's the
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  Speaker 1: takeout from a huge armed forces parade in central Beijing's
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  Speaker 1: Chienanmen Square featuring massed soldiers marching with fixed bayonets, displays
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  Speaker 1: of military hardware, and guest appearances by foreign politicians including
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  Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Daniel Andrews. Today, our
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  Speaker 1: China correspondent Will Glasgow up close and personal with the
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  Speaker 1: People's Liberation Army.
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  Speaker 2: Hey there, can you hear me? Nah? As seen as
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  Speaker 2: I plug in the thing and chance it off.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, let's do it. This is Will Glasgow,
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  Speaker 1: the Australian's North Asia correspondent. He's calling me on WhatsApp
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  Speaker 1: from Chienanmen Square in central Beijing after a military parade
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  Speaker 1: like nothing either of us have ever seen.
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  Speaker 2: You've seen what time it does? It feels so late,
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  Speaker 2: so it's it's the parade is over. They're unpacking. It's
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  Speaker 2: not yet midday.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: I got into a cab to go to meet.
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  Speaker 3: My bus at just after two am, so at thirty am.
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  Speaker 2: Some people were up earlier than that. Right.
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  Speaker 3: I had to get to a media center on totally
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  Speaker 3: the other side of town at two thirty am, then
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  Speaker 3: had to go through my first security check of the date.
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  Speaker 3: When do we go to the bus About four am?
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  Speaker 3: So it's an absolutely epic day, really long. There's no food.
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  Speaker 3: We were given a little snack back, so you.
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  Speaker 2: Did get I should I walk that back?
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  Speaker 3: There's no cafes for anything open. You're not allowed to
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  Speaker 3: bring your own food. We were allowed to bring in
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  Speaker 3: the snack pack.
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  Speaker 2: That we will provide it to a bottle of water
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  Speaker 2: and a little bit of things to Montron.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's a long day with very little food,
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  Speaker 3: and it's pretty hot and Tiana, man, you know one
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  Speaker 3: thing about building the world's biggest square, just this enormous
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  Speaker 3: concrete style in this monstrosity that was built here in
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  Speaker 3: the fifties, is it just beams back the sun like
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  Speaker 3: nothing else. It gets baking hot. So yeah, it's a
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  Speaker 3: very memorable way to spend twelve hours. But probably about
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  Speaker 3: ready to leave Tianneman Square today?
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  Speaker 1: Haven't you ready for a nap? If only you didn't
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  Speaker 1: have to write seventeen stories videos will You've been reporting
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  Speaker 1: about the build up to this parade for quite a while. Now,
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  Speaker 1: how did it compare to your expectations? Well?
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  Speaker 3: I mean yeah, during it, I must say at times
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  Speaker 3: I was thinking kind of underwhelming, But then now that.
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  Speaker 2: It's past, the kind of miss it, I'm looking back calmly.
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  Speaker 3: My special time, so close to so much people's liberation kit.
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  Speaker 1: Was it an impressive display of military mite when you
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  Speaker 1: saw all that hardware?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, as an Australian watching it there, well across
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  Speaker 3: a lot of Chinese territorial disputes. When you see the
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  Speaker 3: hard power that China's assembling, you know, it makes all
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  Speaker 3: those scenarios even more troubling, even more worrying, and you
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  Speaker 3: wonder where are some of those going into the future.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I was stunned by the formation marching of
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  Speaker 1: guards with bannetts fixed and people carrying automatic weapons, turning
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  Speaker 1: their heads in unison to face Hi Jinping as he
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  Speaker 1: drove past in.
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  Speaker 2: An open topped car.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is this the kind of display that Chinese
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  Speaker 1: people are used to, big displays of strength by the
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  Speaker 1: PLA or is this a once in a lifetime kind
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  Speaker 1: of experience.
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  Speaker 3: Look, it's become much more common since Shoes of Peing
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  Speaker 3: became the General Secretary of.
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  Speaker 2: The Communist Party in late twenty twelve.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, he's overseen far more military parades and at
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  Speaker 3: a tempo they're happening more often than they.
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  Speaker 2: Used to happen before.
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  Speaker 3: Now, Look, partly that she part of the way he
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  Speaker 3: sees his leadership is that he is the leader that
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  Speaker 3: is enabling China to be powerful again on the world stage.
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  Speaker 2: He's also just the leader at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: When China's got this military equipment to show off. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: you go back twenty years ago and it was a
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  Speaker 3: pretty feeble display what would be rolling down Chang'an Avenue
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  Speaker 3: in Beijing at this kind of a thing. But what
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  Speaker 3: you're seeing is she wants them to get bigger and
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  Speaker 3: better each time. And what definitely is happening, I mean, unquestionably,
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  Speaker 3: the quality, the lethality of the weapons that are rolling
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  Speaker 3: along the center of Beijing each time is stepping up
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  Speaker 3: at such a pace as extraordinary.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a new.
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  Speaker 3: Stealth fighter they have, and there was more vision of
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  Speaker 3: that than there's been previously. Similarly, with a new class
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  Speaker 3: of hypersonic missiles the Chinese have made, we knew about them,
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  Speaker 3: we saw a bit more of them, and the Chinese
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  Speaker 3: feel confident enough in apparently to display them, or at
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  Speaker 3: least display bits of them.
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  Speaker 1: Australia's ambassador to China didn't show up, as you said,
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  Speaker 1: a defense attache in their place. How much of a
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  Speaker 1: snob is that? And will Australia pay for that.
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  Speaker 2: It's very pointed. It's very clear.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, this same parade marking the end of World
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  Speaker 3: War Two, and if they're Chinese victory with its allies
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  Speaker 3: over Japan at the end of World War two, go
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  Speaker 3: back ten years ago this so this one here was
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  Speaker 3: the eightieth anniversary of that. Ten years ago at the
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  Speaker 3: seven years we had a minister from the Abbic government,
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  Speaker 3: their veteran affairs minister came here. Now this time we
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  Speaker 3: don't even have the ambassador. You're down to the defense attache,
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  Speaker 3: military attache and the political counselor along. And it was
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  Speaker 3: very deliberate. The government made that very clear. For me,
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  Speaker 3: it's a very deliberate signal. Now we're not the only one.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, ten years ago people had a different view
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  Speaker 3: about China, and there were many countries giving China more
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  Speaker 3: of a benefit of the doubt about its increasing military capabilities.
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  Speaker 3: That you know, it's a big, powerful country and so
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  Speaker 3: it's going to have a big powerful military.
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  Speaker 2: That's just the logic of the world with a big
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  Speaker 2: economy comes that.
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  Speaker 3: But China's behavior in the last ten years, and particularly
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  Speaker 3: you know, particularly the way Shutin Ping has been so close,
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  Speaker 3: so supportive of Vladimir Putins since his war in Ukraine,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the latest war in Ukraine since twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 3: You know, he was the guest of honor today and
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  Speaker 3: the Chinese SHUZNP himself and the Chinese propaganda machine couldn't
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  Speaker 3: have made it clear. You know, the parade began with
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  Speaker 3: him walking side by side with Kim yongun, the North
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  Speaker 3: Korean dictator, who is contributing North Korean troops and missiles
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  Speaker 3: and other military equipment explicitly to that Russian war effort
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  Speaker 3: against Ukraine.
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  Speaker 2: So the way.
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  Speaker 3: China's behaved, the company it's keeping, the support, its giving
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  Speaker 3: diplomatic and military to Vladimir Pusan's war machine, you know
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  Speaker 3: that has disgusted and appalled a lot of countries, including Australia.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, in twenty fifteen there was the South
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  Speaker 3: Korean president. They came along to this. This time they're
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  Speaker 3: not coming. And you know, there's been a big change
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  Speaker 3: in China's relations with a lot of different countries as
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  Speaker 3: they've experienced and encountered this increasingly powerful China that's buttressed
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  Speaker 3: by the PLA might that's on display here. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: there's just a lot of the diplomatic speakers like Midic countries,
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  Speaker 3: little democracies, but also some other countries.
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  Speaker 2: Who are uncomfortable about the.
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  Speaker 3: PLA's build up and the way shujuin Ping has asserted it,
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  Speaker 3: and so wanted to make a point, as Australia really
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  Speaker 3: clearly did by demoshing its representation so significantly.
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  Speaker 1: One Australian who did show up was former Victorian Premier
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Andrews, who of course was in power certainly at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of his term at a time when a
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  Speaker 1: connection with China was seen as perhaps less sinister than
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  Speaker 1: it is now. Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr
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  Speaker 1: decided not to show up. You've been reporting about some
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  Speaker 1: speculation about whether it was good for the Albanese government
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  Speaker 1: to have those senior labor figures there or not. What
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  Speaker 1: do you think now having seen the parade unfold and
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  Speaker 1: seen Dan Andrews, you know, shaking hands and walking a
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  Speaker 1: red carpet with Shijian pink.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, look, my personal view was it was an
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  Speaker 3: extraordinary thing that they ever thought it was a good
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  Speaker 3: idea to turn up here, and that they would do
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  Speaker 3: it out of sync with the Australian federal government.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's just almost beyond belief.
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  Speaker 3: Now, Dan Andrews went ahead with it, and the warning
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  Speaker 3: the thing that had been told to me.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly not used to me.
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  Speaker 3: I mean I knew this myself, that the Chinese government
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  Speaker 3: was going to latch on to him and Bob Carr
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  Speaker 3: if they came, and they would just be grist for
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  Speaker 3: the propaganda mill and the sure enough, Dan Andrews was
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  Speaker 3: introduced as a statesman from Australia and there he was
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  Speaker 3: shaking Shushin Ping's hand and you know, giving the pretense
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  Speaker 3: for a Chinese audience watching it on CCTV that you
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  Speaker 3: know many probably mistrucken for Australia's Prime Minister, Australia's leader,
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  Speaker 3: and that they see that as a signal that the
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  Speaker 3: Australian government and Australia is on board and supportive of
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  Speaker 3: this build up, the signal the government wanted to send
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  Speaker 3: and has also sent, but it's been muddied by this
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  Speaker 3: is completely the opposite.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Bob Carr very late in the game.
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  Speaker 3: I mean he's come to Beijing, amazingly he's come, but
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  Speaker 3: they're not attended the military parade, so you know, it's
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  Speaker 3: really over to Dan Andrews to explain why he was
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  Speaker 3: a good idea for him to be here and why
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  Speaker 3: jarring so clearly and so explicitly with the Australian federal government,
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  Speaker 3: why was that a good idea?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's over to Dan.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up the very clear message to Taiwan. Who was
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  Speaker 1: the primary audience for this will? Was it Donald Trump?
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  Speaker 1: Was it the leadership of Taiwan? Was it ordinary Chinese people?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think you start with ordinary Chinese people. That's
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  Speaker 3: really important. I mean the Communist Party. You know, maybe
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  Speaker 3: start there first. The People's Liberation Army is the Chinese
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  Speaker 3: Communist Party's army, not the Chinese People's Army, the Chinese
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  Speaker 3: Communist Party army.
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  Speaker 2: So start with the Communist Party.
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  Speaker 3: She just again demonstrating his dominance over the party and
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  Speaker 3: its military, the People's Liberation Army. From there you go
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  Speaker 3: to Chinese people. Hugely important. I mean, she is obsessed
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  Speaker 3: with constantly promoting his image within China as a great leader.
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  Speaker 2: That's making the country more powerful.
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  Speaker 3: Cheng changing the change for sure now and that all
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  Speaker 3: Chinese people are benefiting from what he calls the great
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  Speaker 3: rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. So yeah, start with the party,
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  Speaker 3: then go to the Chinese people and from their look
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  Speaker 3: international capitals.
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  Speaker 2: Right, I think Washing team is at the top of that.
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump as at the top of that, sending a
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  Speaker 3: signal to him that China is a big, serious country
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  Speaker 3: and it needs to be treated with respect, and it's
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  Speaker 3: got capabilities to do things that the Americans don't want
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  Speaker 3: to learn about. Right. Then you step down from there
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  Speaker 3: to Taiwan. I mean, yes, there is a message going
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  Speaker 3: to Taiwan, and I mean essentially the Chinese position is
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  Speaker 3: boiled down to we can do this the easy.
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  Speaker 2: Way or the hardware, Taiwan, what do you want? You know?
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  Speaker 3: The offer is peaceful they call it reunification. Peaceful unification
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  Speaker 3: with China using something like the Hong Kong one China
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  Speaker 3: two systems, or with Beijing reserving the right as it
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  Speaker 3: has in Hong Kong to adjust the second system until
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  Speaker 3: it feels comfortable with it. That's the easy way Taiwan's
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  Speaker 3: been offered. And then there's the hardway, which is we
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  Speaker 3: can use this stuff that you just saw rolling down
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  Speaker 3: the streets of Beijing and force you to be part
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  Speaker 3: of China, you know, and I mean their Chinese plan,
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  Speaker 3: and they're very open about this, is they just keep
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  Speaker 3: building up that equipment year after year, and they say
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  Speaker 3: it's inevitable that Taiwan will return, and they.
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  Speaker 2: See part of that in evitability.
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  Speaker 3: This is just this huge increase of power and might
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  Speaker 3: of their Chinese People's Operation Army just gives them the
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  Speaker 3: ability to force things to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. You can
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  Speaker 1: read Will's reporting and check out all the remarkable pictures
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  Speaker 1: and video of that Chinese parade, plus experts analysis right
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au