top of page
Dominic Gilonis

Silent Invasion, by Clive Hamilton

By DOMINIC GILONIS



Mention the words ‘foreign interference’ and the country that most likely springs to mind is Putin’s Russia. However, a growing number of analysts are issuing increasingly dire warnings that the main threat comes not from Moscow but Beijing. Clive Hamilton is one of the foremost such authors, and his book, Silent Invasion, is essential to anyone concerned with the growing web of influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The book explores the CCP itself, its core doctrine, and how this relates to a broader geopolitical strategy known as the ‘China Dream’. The rest of Hamilton’s work painstakingly lays out just how deeply Australian society and politics have been compromised in aid of this ‘dream’. The impact of this is plain to see: billions of dollars worth of industrial espionage, bribery at the highest levels of government, and the promotion of historical falsehoods as fact. Yet, the worst effects are reserved for Chinese Australians who hoped to escape totalitarianism and reside instead in a liberal democratic society. Xi Jinping has made it clear that the CCP considers all Chinese diaspora as duty-bound to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), whether they like it or not.

According to Hamilton, despite the rhetoric and control emanating from Beijing,the Australian political classes have remained surprisingly mute on this subject. Hamilton claims there is still time to reverse the damage done by this negligence, which is in part the pursuit of economic success above all, even our liberal values. A more confident liberalism is needed, that brings together democracies across the world in opposition to the PRC’s actions. Perhaps most important is a duty to speak the truth and condemn certain actions and policies, and Hamilton’s book is excellent for just that.



5 views

Comments


bottom of page