Not A Good Time To Be A Friend Of China

Crikey! takes a closer look at Rudd's links with AustChina:

Rudd’s oft-proclaimed Sinophilia means he must have strong connections with a brutal dictatorship that, as events in Tibet are currently demonstrating, savagely suppresses dissent and imprisons and executes its opponents. China’s role in Darfur has been heavily criticised. And there are also rumours that AustChina has links with the Sudanese military -- categorically denied by an AustChina spokesman this morning. AustChina has denied having any commercial role in Sudan. However, Q-Mac International, a West Australian based firm and an affiliate of AustChina, sold high-frequenecy radios to the Sudanese army in 2003, according to reports from Amnesty International.

This has a way to go yet.