OUR soon-to-be foreign minister may be our soon-to-be-ex prime minister's most inspired appointment to date. No training required with this bloke, who already understands the ease with which ugly and inconvenient things can be made to vanish.
Behold! Now nestling in the Gillard gullytrap beside disappeared riot organiser Tony Hodges, Fair Work Australia's probe of Craig Thomson and the Droner From Altona's free frocks from Town Mode, there is this just-deleted post from Bob Carr's little blog. Fortunately, a cached version remains and it is reproduced below:
Don’t Meet This Cunning Monk
The Prime Minister should feel no obligation to meet the Dalai Lama, indeed should feel an obligation not to meet him. He is a religious leader but also a cunning one with a political agenda. His agenda is not in Australia’s interest.
First, his plan for Tibetan autonomy goes well beyond religious affairs and veers close to separatism. Tibet has been part of China since the Manchu dynasty. There is no more reason China would accept a loosening of its ties with Tibet than we would accept West Australian autonomous status within the Australian federation.
Second, his definition of Tibet includes parts of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces – because they have Tibetan minorities. The Chinese cannot see this as anything other than an attack on their territorial integrity, their very sovereignty. It is an outrageous claim. It is designed to antagonize the Chinese.
His strategy is to keep coming here and forcing his presence on Canberra, presumably to generate ill-feeling between us and the Chinese. The Prime Minister is under no obligation to see him, no more than she would to accept a courtesy call from the Archbishop of Canterbury if he insisted on being here every 18 months. No, the case for not seeing the Lama is stronger: behind the self-effacing shuffle and the grins he has a mischievous agenda in pursuit of theocratic power.
Reinstating a theocracy over Tibet in opposition to China – and the UN and the entire world recognize Chinese sovereignty in Tibet – is not remotely a matter of Australian interest. Sorry, but the PM has a full agenda and other priorities.
No doubt about it. Bob Carr fits right in.
(HT: Thanks to reader Josh for sending the link.)
(HT: Thanks to reader Josh for sending the link.)
