Kevin Rudd warns of return of the “yellow peril”
Kevin Rudd has warned of a “return to the days of the yellow peril”, and slammed the Coalition’s management of the relationship with China as self-serving.
Speaking in Canberra on Tuesday, the former prime minister blasted the Abbott and Turnbull governments for using a hard-line approach on the Chinese government.
Rudd said Malcolm Turnbull’s 2017 speech declaring that Australia will “stand up” against Chinese interference was actually motivated by domestic and internal politics, at a time when Turnbull’s leadership was under threat.
“Managing the China relationship has always been difficult, it was difficult when I was prime minister, so it is for prime minister Morrison today,” Rudd said.
He said while there should be vigilance against threats to Australia’s democracy, it should not translate into racial profiling.
“I will be the first to the barricades if the most recent national security legislation becomes a political vehicle for Hansonism and a return to the days of the yellow peril,” he said.
Rudd also slammed Abbott’s cutting of the foreign aid program towards the South Pacific, saying it would allow China to expand its influence in the region.
“Abbott also collapsed Australia’s aid effort into the South Pacific, virtually cutting it in half from our period in office, and in doing so the Liberal government opened the door to the region for China,” Rudd said.
“This was an utterly reckless act with long-term national security consequences for Australia.”
On the same day, Rudd told ABC’s 7.30 that while Australia should not be “naïve” about China’s interests in relation to Australia, he favoured a “balanced” approach.
When asked about warnings from former ASIO chief Duncan Lewis, Rudd said it was “kind of crazy to overreact and to get into reds under the bed land, to get into yellow peril land”.
The former politician said while Labor supported the foreign interference legislation, it “should not result in some sort of anti-Chinese domestic political witch-hunt”.