澳洲在与中国关系上，似乎忘了中国外交部发言人赵立坚告诫的“解铃还需系铃人”，澳洲需要重新谨记。
澳洲的国家广播公司──澳洲广播公司（ABC）近日对中国的报导，显示澳洲为两国关系系上更多的“结”，而不是解开。澳洲广播公司如同中国的新华社，主要是由澳洲政府直接拨款运作，其董事是由澳洲政府任命的。因此，他们就如英国广播公司和美国之音般，属于代表政府的官方或半官方喉舌，尽管这些媒体给世界其他地方的印象是，他们是独立和自由的！
日前澳洲广播公司在其分析文章部份，重点突出一篇由驻中国特派员撰写的文章。这篇反华评论〈塔利班受毛泽东启发重新掌权〉，标题耸人听闻，其目的显然是试图误导读者相信，是中国在幕后影响塔利班，以及导致喀布尔和阿富汗沦陷在塔利班手上的当前事态发展，实际上是中国主导世界的结果。
文章声称是毛泽东“编写了塔利班接管阿富汗的剧本”，并断言“毛泽东可被视为现代叛乱之父：他的学说启发了哥伦比亚革命武装力量、基地组织和恐怖组织的伊斯兰国等。”
这些指控是依据伊斯兰恐怖分子借鉴了“毛泽东持久战”的战斗方式。这篇文章引述了目前在伊拉克服役的美国陆军中校纪尧姆博佩尔（Guillaume Beaurpere）的谈话。纪尧姆博佩尔曾是叙利亚美军特种部队指挥官，他显然试图把伊斯兰武装组织的战略和毛泽东思想联系起来。
以这个过于简化且未经验证的联系，论证塔利班使用毛泽东思想来夺回阿富汗之后，该文章接著提出了澳洲一些人认为的趋炎附势举动，即呼吁美国应召集澳洲、北约、四方会议（Quad，由美国、澳洲、印度与日本组成的非正式的安全组合）和其他国家，以抗衡中国的势力和影响力。
尽管，美国可能不是唯一的，但在维持世界秩序上，仍然是一个不可或缺的国家。世界仍然期待美国在一个更加动荡和不可预测的世界中发挥领导作用。像澳洲这样的国家，其安全就不能不依赖于美国。
从澳纽美安全条约（ANZUS）、北约，以及旨在对抗中国日益增长的势力和影响力的四方会议（Quad），很大程度上可预示了，美国会如何主导这个世界。
显然，未来还有一场更大的战斗；拜登已经明确指出：这是民主与专制的对决。近日的趋势发展表明了民主正在倒退。美国国旗在喀布尔的降下，就反映了这一点。
也许这篇文章是故意危言耸听，以反击一小部分澳洲人所认为的，中国对澳洲政府及其官方喉舌试图在澳中两国关系上火上加油的正确回应。
一位眼光敏锐的澳洲评论员在澳洲在线评论网站上，就发文谴责西方媒体对中国的歪曲报导：
中国终于勇敢地站出来，大声疾呼西方的威胁、欺凌和谎言。西方大多数人只看到受害者的反应，而不是欺凌者的挑衅。他们完全不知道美国多年来试图遏制和挑衅中国的极端程度。奥巴马2012年的“重返亚洲”计划无异于表态要与其最大的竞争对手─中国对抗。美国如今在中国周遭地区布置了400多个军事基地，并挑衅地非法进入中国水域和领空。其武断地对中国实施制裁，并在香港、台湾、新疆以及其认为可以利用的任何机会上，故意煽动中国内乱，以破坏中国的稳定。美国绝不会允许其他国家对美国如此做，但美国却认为自己拥有天赐的权力，对抗和遏制中国或任何其他它认为对美国自封的世界霸权角色构成威胁的国家。当中国终于站出来决定反击并揭露美国谎言时，中国就会被打上了恶霸的烙印！
ABC接下来会如何报导中国？对中国展开更多基于谎言和半真半假事实的抨击？或者对美国、澳洲和北约如何败给塔利班，而不是因为毛泽东或中国因素的更平衡和负责任的分析。西方之所以失败，是因为他们从未从越南、叙利亚、伊拉克和其他西方国家对非洲和拉丁美洲的军事干预中吸取教训，反而不断牺牲性命和砸下数兆美元，全力以赴一场又一场无法取胜的战争。
《塔利班重返阿富汗：澳洲再杠上中国》（Taliban Return to Afghanistan: Australia is Tying The Bell Around Mao’s Neck）原文：
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warning that “Whoever hung the bell [on the tiger’s neck] must untie it”appears to be forgotten. It needs to be re-circulated in Australia.
The latest presentation on China by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the country’s national broadcaster, is determined to tie more bells around China’s neck.The ABC can be considered to be the equivalent of China’s Xinhua as it is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a board appointed by the government of the day. Hence, their position is not much different from that of the BBC and Voice of America which are also official or semi-official mouthpieces of their respective governments although they give the impression to the rest of the world that they are independent and free!
Currently prominently featured in the ABC’s analysis section is a piece by its China correspondent. This anti-China commentary, “China had a three step strategy: The Taliban followed it to the letter”, has a sensational title which clearly has, as its objective, an attempt to mislead readers to believe that it is China which is pulling the strings attached to the Taliban and that the present developments leading to the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan are really the outcome of China’s attempt to take over the world.
Mao’s Influence in the Taliban
Claiming that it was Mao Zedong who “wrote the playbook for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan”, the article asserted that “Mao can be seen as the father of modern insurgencies: his teachings inspiring the FARC movement in Colombia, Al Qaeda and Islamic State, among others.”
The former allegation was accompanied by the accusation that “the Mao template for endless warfare” was used by Islamic terrorists. The article quotes Guillaume Beaurpere, presently a high ranking US military officer who served in Iraq and was a Special Operations commander in Syria who apparently has joined the dots between Islamist strategy and Maoist doctrine.
Following this simplistic and unsubstantiated case made to support the assertion of the Taliban’s use of Maoism in taking back Afghanistan, the presentation makes what some in Australia would consider a typically lap dog appeal for the United States to rally Australia, NATO, the Quad and others to counter the influence and reach of China.
And yet America is still an indispensable nation if not an exceptional one. The world still looks to America to lead in an ever more volatile and unpredictable world. Countries like Australia cannot but rely on the US for security.
So much hinges on what we have seen as an American led order: the strength of ANZUS, NATO, the persistence of the Quad — America, Australia, India, Japan — designed to counter the growing influence and reach of China.
There is an even bigger battle ahead; Joe Biden has identified it: democracy versus autocracy. Recent evidence shows democracy is in retreat. The lowering of the American flag in Kabul only underlines it.
Perhaps the article was deliberately alarmist and highlighted to counter what a small minority of Australians are seeing as China’s correct response to the attempts of the Australian government and its official mouthpieces to tie more weights around China’s neck.
Minority Australian Opinion
A discerning Australian commentator in an article in an Australian online website which condemned the slanted coverage of China in the western media has pointed out:
China is at last standing up assertively and calling out the West's threats, bullying and lies. Most in the West only see the victim's response, not the bully's provocation. They are totally unaware of the extreme lengths to which the US has over many years sought to contain and provoke China. O'Bama's Pivot to Asia in 2012 was nothing short of a call to arms against its biggest rival. The US has now surrounded China with over 400 military bases and is provocatively and illegally entering its waters and airspace. It's arbitrarily imposing sanctions on China and deliberately fomenting civil unrest over Hong Kong, Taiwan, XinJiang and any other opportunity it senses it can exploit in order to destabilise its rival. The US would never stand for another country doing this to America, but it sees itself as having the God-given right to antagonise and contain China or any other country it considers a threat to its self-appointed role as the world's hegemon. And when China finally stands up and decides to push back and call out the lies, it's the one that gets branded as the bully!
What’s next coming in the ABC’s future coverage on China?
More China bashing based on falsehoods and half truths? Or a balanced and responsible analysis of how the US, Australia and NATO lost to the Taliban not because of Mao or China. The West lost because they never learned from Vietnam, Syria, Iraq and other western military interventions in Africa and Latin America, and concentrated instead on pouring in and extracting blood and trillions of dollars in an unwinnable war.
