The firefly and the fiery dragon
When asked for ten reasons why anybody should go to New Zealand while on the David Letterman show – Prime Minister John Key’s most watched moment on American television – Mr Key said if anybody would travel to New Zealand in the next 30 days he would pick them up at the airport.
Of course nobody expected Mr Key to keep a promise obviously made in jest on a television programme nobody takes seriously (though some tourists did call his office and were given a tour of the Beehive by his staff, according to reports). But last week Mr Key did fail to keep a far more serious promise he had made before he came to power: about meeting the Dalai Lama. He simply said there was no reason for him to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader during his visit to New Zealand, although he had earlier said he would do so.
That was when Helen Clark dodged meeting the Dalai Lama officially in Australia but contriving to meet him at an airport lounge for a “courtesy meeting”.
Double standards, double speak and the concomitant hypocrisy are the tools of the trade of politicians anywhere. Whether it is New Zealand lecturing Fiji on democracy while making no comment at all after China executed two people involved in the Sanlu-Fonterra melamine tainted milk powder scandal or Hone Harawira painting all New Zealand pakeha with the same white brush and then hiring a white lawyer to defend him, hypocrisy rules.
(Incidentally, Fonterra was quoted as saying that the executions were China’s internal matter – and Harawira had slipped out of an official engagement to take in the sights of one of the world’s greatest and most beautiful cities that is indeed one of the cultural capitals of, in his own system of nomenclature, white motherf***er culture).
The Prime Minister’s stated reason for not meeting the Dalai Lama – that there is no reason for him to do so – is a non-reason that is too thinly veiled for anyone not to see the real reason why. He said he was not pressured by China not to meet the world’s most famous exile. That may well be the case. But it is not very much different from feeling pressured by the world’s fastest growing super power with so much of this country’s future and destiny bound up with it.
Why not just be upfront about it and tell it like it is: China doesn’t like the Dalai Lama and whoever it is that entertains him. So we feel obliged to take its concerns on board because it is not a wise thing for us to displease the world’s fastest growing economy that has the capacity, the muscle and the money to buy up whole nations – if indeed there was a way to do that – let alone global businesses.
We can’t be blamed if we are deferential to a giant of a nation that pulls its weight in every important international forum; that has snatched away the loyalty of our dear Pacific Islands from right under our noses; that discretion is the better part of valour, especially when we are a firefly facing a fire breathing dragon.
Everyone knows China is here to stay and everyone knows that New Zealand has wholeheartedly embraced China, what with becoming the first western nation to sign a free trade agreement with it. It is potentially one of our largest future markets. It is also poised to power the world out of the turbulence of recession. It is well acknowledged that the 21st century belongs to Asia and China. So what is the harm in candidly admitting that it is not in our interest to rub the dragon on the wrong side?
Everyone would appreciate such frankness. But when have candidness and frankness been the qualities of politicians?
When asked for ten reasons why anybody should go to New Zealand while on the David Letterman show – Prime Minister John Key’s most watched moment on American television – Mr Key said if anybody would travel to New Zealand in the next 30 days he would pick them up at the airport.
Of course nobody...
When asked for ten reasons why anybody should go to New Zealand while on the David Letterman show – Prime Minister John Key’s most watched moment on American television – Mr Key said if anybody would travel to New Zealand in the next 30 days he would pick them up at the airport.
Of course nobody expected Mr Key to keep a promise obviously made in jest on a television programme nobody takes seriously (though some tourists did call his office and were given a tour of the Beehive by his staff, according to reports). But last week Mr Key did fail to keep a far more serious promise he had made before he came to power: about meeting the Dalai Lama. He simply said there was no reason for him to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader during his visit to New Zealand, although he had earlier said he would do so.
That was when Helen Clark dodged meeting the Dalai Lama officially in Australia but contriving to meet him at an airport lounge for a “courtesy meeting”.
Double standards, double speak and the concomitant hypocrisy are the tools of the trade of politicians anywhere. Whether it is New Zealand lecturing Fiji on democracy while making no comment at all after China executed two people involved in the Sanlu-Fonterra melamine tainted milk powder scandal or Hone Harawira painting all New Zealand pakeha with the same white brush and then hiring a white lawyer to defend him, hypocrisy rules.
(Incidentally, Fonterra was quoted as saying that the executions were China’s internal matter – and Harawira had slipped out of an official engagement to take in the sights of one of the world’s greatest and most beautiful cities that is indeed one of the cultural capitals of, in his own system of nomenclature, white motherf***er culture).
The Prime Minister’s stated reason for not meeting the Dalai Lama – that there is no reason for him to do so – is a non-reason that is too thinly veiled for anyone not to see the real reason why. He said he was not pressured by China not to meet the world’s most famous exile. That may well be the case. But it is not very much different from feeling pressured by the world’s fastest growing super power with so much of this country’s future and destiny bound up with it.
Why not just be upfront about it and tell it like it is: China doesn’t like the Dalai Lama and whoever it is that entertains him. So we feel obliged to take its concerns on board because it is not a wise thing for us to displease the world’s fastest growing economy that has the capacity, the muscle and the money to buy up whole nations – if indeed there was a way to do that – let alone global businesses.
We can’t be blamed if we are deferential to a giant of a nation that pulls its weight in every important international forum; that has snatched away the loyalty of our dear Pacific Islands from right under our noses; that discretion is the better part of valour, especially when we are a firefly facing a fire breathing dragon.
Everyone knows China is here to stay and everyone knows that New Zealand has wholeheartedly embraced China, what with becoming the first western nation to sign a free trade agreement with it. It is potentially one of our largest future markets. It is also poised to power the world out of the turbulence of recession. It is well acknowledged that the 21st century belongs to Asia and China. So what is the harm in candidly admitting that it is not in our interest to rub the dragon on the wrong side?
Everyone would appreciate such frankness. But when have candidness and frankness been the qualities of politicians?
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