A retired US General has responded with shock to WA Premier Mark McGowan’s “stunning” suggestion to improve relations with Beijing, saying he is surprised there are still people “that naive” about China.
A retired US general has reacted with shock to Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan’s suggestion that Australia hold a National Cabinet meeting within China.
The WA Premier made the suggestion during his week-long trip to China, a day after he was caught on a hot mic disparaging fellow WA politician and shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie.
When asked about the idea during an interview with Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt, General Jack Keane, the former vice chief of staff for the United States Army, described the suggestion as “stunning”.
“I’m surprised that we still have people out there that are that naïve about dealing with China and who they really are,” General Keane said.
“That is really stunning, given what we know about China and the years of experience that your country has in dealing with China.”
The retired US General is a foreign policy and national security expert who currently sits on the US Commission on National Defense Strategy, a congressional committee tasked with making recommendations on America’s military force structure and national security risks.
General Keane said Mr McGowan is probably getting the same “nice talk” from China’s diplomats that both the Australian and US diplomats have gotten in the past, but the true character of the Chinese Communist Party had long since been revealed.
“They talk nice. They talk forever, but nothing changes,” General Keane said.
“I can tell you as a fact here dealing with American diplomats on a continuous basis, they have tried everything under the sun to make friends with China.
“After all, many countries – the United States and others like Australia – had a lot to do with helping develop a form of capitalism within China, thinking naively… that if they had economic reform political reform would follow.”
“But that blew up in our face. There’s no political reform, these guys are staunch communists, and they repress their own people and they are aggressors abroad.”
The retired US General, who is the chairman of the US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said China’s ambitions to “dominate and control the Indo-pacific region” hadn’t changed “one iota,” regardless of how nice they were being to premier McGowan.
“President Xi.. is a dictator,” General Keane said.
“A ruthless, brutal dictator who wants to control the Indo-pacific region and control the world in terms of domination (and) replace the United States as the world leader.
“They are about this and they are dead serious about it.
“We have learned that reality. I believe your government who is running the country knows that, and your previous government knows it as well.”