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People hold up signs in support of TikTok at a news conference outside the US Capitol building in Washington on March 12. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
OpinionLetters

Letters | TikTok law contradicts Blinken’s call for level playing field

  • Readers discuss the US law targeting the social media platform, and the bipartisan silence in Australia on defence policy
US-China relations
Letters
Letters
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I refer to the report, “US-China relations: Antony Blinken calls for level playing field for business and hits out at ‘non-market practices’” (April 25). Recently US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill on TikTok which requires its parent company ByteDance to sell the app or see it banned in the country.

What sort of level playing field is that? The double standards are glaring and rather tiring.

Francis Lo, North Point

Australia needs vigorous debate on defence policy

There are far too many unsatisfactory silences in Australia’s domestic politics and international relations, on foreign policy in particular – for example, any recent detailed public evaluation of the ANZUS treaty has yet to appear, as well as a discussion of the future of the Pine Gap joint defence facility and the national security rationale for, and full implications of, the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.

There are multiple meanings and functions of political silence but it is not uncommon to think of authoritarianism as ruling by silencing. Silencing policies are yet another element of control. Furthermore, silence can appear as an instrument of power or oppression.

In Australia, defence policy has been characterised by a bipartisan conspiracy of silence in which proper debate is minimised and thus Australia’s security is inevitably compromised. Breaking open and confronting silences not only needs courage, it also requires a willing audience. This is essential since it is in the national interest.

Dennis Rumley, emeritus professor, Curtin University, Australia

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