Australia has been neutralised. But not conquered. It’s the year 2034. “A coup, a small war and a waiting enemy was all it took to upend life in the Lucky Country,” writes Mark Wales in a forthcoming novel. The former elite soldier is not shy about naming the invading enemy – the People’s Liberation Army. And that’s where his problem started.

Wales is known to Australia’s special forces community for his six years in the Special Air Services, and to viewers of Network Ten’s Australian Survivor as sole survivor of the rugged reality show in 2022. Now he’s hoping to emerge as sole survivor of a Liberal party preselection contest for the federal West Australian seat of Tangney on Saturday.

Former SAS soldier Mark Wales appeared on Ten’s Australian Survivor.Credit: Network Ten

It’s a traditional Liberal seat that Anthony Albanese’s Labor picked up in 2022. But with Labor’s margin under 3 per cent, it’s in the category of “gettable” for the Libs. But Wales’ novel is now being used against him, even before publication, on grounds that it could foment racial anxiety by posing China as a hostile force bent on subjugating Australia.

“The community feels, rightly or wrongly, that they are being attacked or singled out unnecessarily,” says the president of the West Australian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Tony Chong. “If you’re trying to promote a country as multicultural, this is not the way to do it,” he told The Australian.

Of course, racism is death to modern Australia. Multiculturalism only works when all races and ethnicities are respected. But those concerned about Wales’ novel are flying blind. It’s not due for release until April 18.

What’s in it? First, the set-up. Beijing has fought the US in a major war over Taiwan. America lost: “On Z-Day, Taipei was invaded at first light, and Chinese Communist Party boots had secured Taipei by dinnertime,” Wales writes in the novel, Outrider.

Former SAS commander Mark Wales. Credit: Instagram

“The Americans lost three carrier groups in the two days that followed. The entire Royal Australian Navy was sunk in three battles. AUKUS submarines were hunted down and crushed, the rumours of quantum communication satellites locating them from space.”

So far, this scenario is not implausible. It might take a bit longer, but China’s forces could indeed defeat the US Navy in Pentagon wargaming of a clash over Taiwan, according to US media reports. Beijing never has ruled out using force to seize the self-governing island.