How China is Buying Australian Politics

G'day Chris, Matt and Shelley. This has been mentioned in Australian media circles but is usually buried by benign stories of no interest. It is well known that Chinese investment is occurring at an astonishing rate, particularly property and business that uses large tracts of land ie farming. We have a large and vocal Chinese community, but one that usually like to think they can operate outside local laws and directives. Tax avoidance is rife, as they love to deal in a cash economy. They have a website that contains forums and articles on how to manipulate Australian laws and the social security system; dating forums and even buy and swap advertisements. On one such occasion i saw a car advertised through the website that was significantly cheaper than an add for the same car on a typical car sales website. When i asked about this, the response was "white people are stupid and don't bargain, so we inflate the price to them"!

Where China takes the cake is also gruesomeness of animal rights.... or the lack thereof. Take the Yulin Dog meat festival for example. Where millions of salivating Chinese uncles consume the worlds most popular pet.... as food. On par with canabalism.

"Soft Power" is a lot cheaper, less eye-catching and I would think a lot more effective than financial hit men, assassins and outright military muscles that typical colonial powers are (and have been) using, to influence politics elsewhere. You could see this as "Innovation in Colonization"

Can you do a similar investigation for Europe, maybe Romania?