As the coronavirus outbreak continued spreading globally and many countries questioned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its handling of the pandemic and its bid for global leadership, an Australian Member of Parliament (MP) became a casualty for supporting the CCP.
New South Wales (NSW) Member of Parliament (MP) Shaoquett Moselmane of the Labor Party has resigned as Assistant President of the Legislative Council, after coming under fire for repeatedly praising China’s response to the coronavirus crisis, including extolling Xi Jinping’s “unswerving leadership.”
Moselmane lauded President Xi in a post on his personal website, where he stated that a nation needed “tough, unswerving leadership, focused on the mammoth task ahead” in order to contain the virus’ spread. “For the People’s Republic of China, President Xi stepped up and provided that leadership. He mustered the resources of the nation and together with the great people of China – fought it and contained it,” Moselmane wrote.
In a separate opinion piece for the East China Normal University, published in February, Moselmane praised the “serious attention and timely and effective countermeasures” taken by the Chinese authorities. He also claimed “the obsolete scum of ‘white Australia’, in conjunction with ‘some mainstream media,’ were fueling anti-Chinese sentiments.”
Moselmane gave a speech at a restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown earlier this year, where he declared the “Chinese government should be commended for the immediate action it took.”
Moselmane caused controversy in 2018 when he declared: “The only way for China to reach its potential is for China to force a change to the rules and create a new world order.”
In 2019, he was in the spotlight again after his political staffer, John Zhang, was reported for having completed a CCP propaganda training course in Beijing in 2013.
Labor Party leader Jodi McKay has described his comments as “appalling,” and said he would “never be in the shadow cabinet” but ruled out expelling him from the party.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, April 7, 2020
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/labor-mp-quits-his-position-in-nsw-upper-house-20200407-p54hr3.html