Originally Posted by
dr dre
But are we really under the “rule of Chinese totalitarianism” by allowing them to technically own a few small GA airports in the bush? Don’t forget all those regional ports run by flying schools are operated and controlled on a day to day basis by Australians and Westerners. From what I’ve heard they don’t disallow permission from third party operators to land there, and provide a valuable assistance for operators like the RFDS.
I doubt whether a Chinese communist party official has ever set foot on the grounds of any of the airfields except maybe once at the opening ceremony? They aren’t going to be used for a back door invasion of the country, nor a way to flood the country with cheap goods or migrants.
And this here is the point worth remembering - we are not selling off assets in this case to the Chinese. We are allowing them to open flying schools in regional Australia to train airline pilots.
There is an absolute legitimate argument to be made about whether the Australian government should be allowing the Chinese to purchase prime agricultural land, or take leases on Ports for 99 years, etc. In fact there is a whole different thread that could be started on why the Australian government shouldn’t be selling (or leasing) off strategic assets - Sydney airport anyone? Again - that is not the issue at play in this example.
I personally struggle to see what the risk is by allowing flying schools to be opened in regional towns across Australia. It’s good for local communities who will have a business now spending cash locally, employing local people (admin roles, additional airport staff, refuellers), having qualified people move to the town spending money renting houses (think flight instructors). I have worked at a flying school with Chinese cadets - the contract requires multiple townhouses to be rented, a cleaner was employed to go through each house once a week, and we had upwards of 70 students at a time each having to by food, etc at the local shopping centre. The economic benefits are not insignificant.
I wonder what the people of Meriden thought when CSWAFC closed its doors?
I wish people here would stop confusing the issue of selling off of national assets, to allowing foreign companies the ability to open a business here that otherwise would not exist.