The Rising " Bamboo " Curtain !

A DFAT warning about travel to China should be taken very seriously. China has clearly abandoned the " one country, two systems " deal it struck with Britain when Hong Kong lost its status as a British dependency and became an integral part of China in 1997.  That ushered in a fifty year period when Hong Kong residents were supposed to be free of Chinese government interference.  They would enjoy rule by their own legislature and be subject to the Hong Kong court system.

Beijing has been constantly encroaching in recent times.  It insists on vetting those standing for the city's legislative council, resulting in massive street protests and a growing movement for independence.  Beijing has now imposed new security laws that make it a crime to show any opposition to Communist party rule.  Suspects can be whisked over the border and tried in a Communist court where the rules of law that apply in Hong Kong are disregarded.  Those convicted simply disaoppear into the massive Chinese gulags.

Chinese tactical thinking changed when the chief financial officer for Chinese electronic giant Huawei was arrested in Canada on a warrant from the United States when her plane touched down for a fuelling stop. China responded to the imprisonment of Meng Wanzhow by arresting two Canadian businessmen on a visit to China on espionage charges, and this remains unresolved.

China is using the massive bargaining power it enjoys because of its trade balance with the rest of the world to play tough guy.  It can show its displeasure with another country by simply plucking tourists of that nationality off the street and charging them with espionage.  Short of going to war, there is nothing the arrested tourist's country can do to gain release other than endless negotiation.

Relations between Beijing and Canberra are strained because of Australia's insistence on an independent enquiry into the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China and spread around the world.  Chine is sensitive about its handling of the outbreak and wants to shut down all forms of investigation.  It is actively warning Chinese citizens not to travel to Australia because of claimed hostility to Asians and there is the fear that this could lead to the arrest of Australian tourists visiting China on trumped up charges.

We seem to be fast heading into a similar " bamboo curtain " which is replacing that old " iron curtain " that was the dividing line between the west and Russia.   The massive Chinese middle class was encouraged to travel and became the biggest tourist groups visiting Australia and China was a safe destination for Australians.  That has now changed and that DFAT warning is a clear signal to wipe China off the travel itinerary.

Australians who ignore that warning might find the all important exit clearance blocked and face an inderterminate stay beyond the reach of Australian consular services.  Unfortunately, as China is our biggest trade partner that will not be helpfull in restoring mutual business contact now that the coronavirus is slowly fading as a medical emergency.   Australian businessmen and women who take that risk do so at their personal peril.