Today has been declared “Serf Emancipation Day” by the Chinese communist government. Deliberately timed to fall just after the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flee into exile, the day is intended to commemorate the liberation of the Tibetan people from the supposed theocratic dictatorship that existed prior to the Chinese invasion in 1949-50. This is a despicably provocative act by a nation that is allegedly a world leader and should know a lot better.

Tibetans are being forced to celebrate this day against their will and with the massive military presence that has been in place since earlier this year, the Tibetan people will be forced into submission. Tibet remains closed to foreign tourists and the international media, and the heavy media blackout means that there is little chance of monitoring the situation. Suffice to say, we have grave concerns for the well-being of Tibetans within Tibet during this sensitive time.

Of course, the media blackout is incredibly ironic given the recent reports about China’s attempts to subvert the Australian media within Australia.

Australia, we really need to start waking up and taking action against these pricks. This is an atrocious regime that kills more of it’s own citizens every year than any other country and so far we’ve let them host the olympics, buy up our natural resources and tell us who is allowed into the public gallery of our parliament house. Now we want to invite them to join the IMF and buy significant interests in our largest corporations. Forget about Iraq and Afghanistan – this is the ultimate rogue state.

China needs to learn that it must behave like a civilised society before we will respect it.