“We import dollars with political ties and expectations of going back and forth with China,” says film director Kay Lebas.
The award-winning filmmaker, once imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), warned Australia that it was pushing hard for more trade opportunities with China without considering negative consequences.
Kay Rubacek is an Australian foreigner and author based in the New York region and spoke extensively about China’s human rights situation.
On the 36th anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre, an interview with Rubacek and ABC Radio Brisbane was announced, in which it urged policymakers to consider Australia-China’s trade ties more comprehensively.
“We not only import goods, we import students, we also import dollars that have political connections and expectations to travel back and forth with China, and we also import communist cultures that we don’t understand.”
Lubasek said China is a “very complicated society.”
“It has five,000 years of history, there is this imposed ruling party, and it takes over the whole country, a one-party nation, and that’s what controls the system,” she said.
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“It’s not the rule of law, because everything falls under the Communist Party of China. There’s a constitution for the Chinese people, but it’s subject to the CCP.”
(Right to left) Kay Lebase, Chris Chapel, Sean Lynn and moderator Jenny Chan awakened at the CCP Threat Seminar in Middletown, New York on December 8th, 2022. Cara Ding/The Epoch Times
Australia is working on China’s debate
Her comments come after recent Australian elections saw a major shaking with the Central Left Labour Party in voters with China and the main Australian population.
One story that has been circling over the years is that Australian voters in China vote based on a party that is more favorable for their ties with Beijing. In response, politicians from both sides of the aisle have limited their own rhetoric despite well-known CCP infiltrating efforts.
This situation has led defense analyst Michael Shellige to warn that public Australian discourse on the issue has been effectively suppressed by Beijing’s propaganda strategy.
“Without a clear focus on the Chinese government in this policy field, Australian politicians will play straight into the hands of CCP propagandists by allowing those who are somehow biased towards 1.2 million (ethnic Chinese) about Beijing’s foreign intervention activities.”
Former Hong Kong politician and democratic activist Ted Hui holds a placard reading “Panda Human Rights” at the Adelaide Zoo in Adelaide, Australia on June 16, 2024. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
Rubacek’s comments on “communist culture” are also in line with deeper issues regarding the indoctrination of the CCP.
Part of the way that was developed by the CCP would remove content on traditional beliefs such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Conf, instead instilling pro-CCP stories in textbooks and media, replacing daily words with newly coined phrases that reflect the ideology of communism (unlike the 1984 newspaper).
For example, mainland China today uses the phrase “unit of work” instead of “company” or “organization.”
Life influenced by communism
Rubacek’s great grandparents fled Soviet Russia to China in the early 1920s. Her father then fled communist China to Australia at the age of 14, just before the start of the Cultural Revolution.
Born and raised in Sydney, Lubasek has become proactive and active in human rights work related to China.
Falun Gong is a meditation practice rooted in Buddhist traditions, also known as Falun Dhafa, with moral teaching centering on the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance.
Surprised by its widespread popularity and independence from the communist regime, former CCP leader Jiang Zemin began persecuting national practices in 1999.
Since then, Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have faced mass arrests, torture, forced labor, sexual abuse and even forced organ collection, but worldwide CCPs have used it to silence the effects.
In a still from the video released by NTD, host Kay Rubacek explains his excitement to see and touch the real Berlin Wall after learning that the section was on display in a public location in New York City on October 12, 2021. Oliver Tray/ntd
“I couldn’t believe that a young woman would be thrown into an underground prison for having the word “compassion” in public places,” said Rubasek.
CCP authorities detained Rubacek for 23 hours before banishing her from China to avoid being involved in the Australian Embassy.
Seeing what is happening in China, Rubacek felt that he needed to try to bridge the gap between cultures.
“What happened in China, how it changed under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, what my father experienced, how it came to modern times, how it came to Australia and the world, how it was, how it was, how it came to our own time, how to support people in Australia and around the world, how it was different from our experiences, how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to understand how to
Falun Gong practitioners from 12 countries peacefully appealed to Tiananmen Square in 2001 to end China’s persecution and torture. minghui.org
Rubacek said the US government is now much harder in CCP.
“America is awakening it. I’m very pleased how they bravely cut their ties. They’re no longer being bullied,” she said.
“It’s very important to understand who we are dealing with, what they expect from us, and how they use us,” she concluded.
