by Bill F.
(Above: China Shipping Line vessel at Melbourne's Swanston Dock)
The China-Australia
Free Trade Agreement has been hailed as a great benefit to Australian
exporters, but there are at least three issues that will cause dismay and
concern to progressive supporters of friendship between the Australian and
Chinese people.
Of greatest
concern is the inclusion of an Investor State Dispute Settlement clause (ISDS)
in the agreement. This mechanism allows a foreign company to sue the Australian
government if changes to Australian law harm their investments here.
For example,
a future government might pass legislation restricting genetically modified
foods or banning coal seam gas exploration and mining on agricultural land, or
change visa conditions for 457 workers. The ISDS clause couldn’t prevent these
changes to Australian law, but it could be used to sue the government for loss
of profits.
The other
effect of ISDS clauses is that they may inhibit a future government from
adopting decent policies on social issues such as health and education to
improve the living standards of the people, because this may cut across the
profits of the foreign corporate investors in these areas.
ISDS clauses
undermine the national sovereignty of countries. Governments that accept them
betray the interests of their people. Under
the Marxist-Leninist leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist
Party and the government of the PRC were exemplary as defenders of China’s
national sovereignty. One might have expected respect for the national
sovereignty of other independent nations to guide the trade policies of China,
but this appears not to be the case.
Dr Kyla Tienhaara, from the Regulatory
Institutions Network at the Australian
National University
said that “Corporations can challenge pretty much anything under these agreements”
and noted that Australia
would now have to include an ISDS clause retrospectively in the Japan-Australia
free trade deal, as this was a condition required by Japan
if an ISDS was in the deal with China
In spite of Prime Minister Tony Abbott
and Trade Minister Andrew saying that there are “… strong safeguards to protect
the Australian Government's ability to regulate in the public interest and
pursue legitimate welfare objectives in areas such as health, safety and the
environment”, the text of the agreement is being kept secret, just like the
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal being negotiated (pushed) by US
imperialism.
Trans Pacific Partnership
A second concern is the knock-on effect
this deal with China
For starters, it has killed off any faint
chance of keeping out an ISDS clause.
There will now be extra pressure to conclude
the TPP deal, as Australia
now has ‘free trade’ deals with South Korea ,
Japan and China US
The US FTA didn’t deliver everything US
imperialism demanded, so the TPP is another opportunity for the US corporate
monopolies to further penetrate the Australian economy and tighten their grip
over our nation.
China’s “market socialism”
As
for China
Similarly, Australian private education
and training companies are also welcome, undermining the public education
system established by socialism.
The parasites are coming, and just like
us, the Chinese people will end up with two-tier health and education systems –
one for the rich and well-off and one for the poor.
There are also concessions to financial
institutions and taxation lawyers to help the Chinese “market socialists”
minimise their taxes both here and in China
What a sorry thing is “socialism with
Chinese characteristics”.
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