Andrews meets with Chinese officials on China trip amid political reporter ban backlash
Daniel Andrews is meeting with an organisation in China that’s been accused of seeking to “directly and malignly influence” state leaders.
Victoria
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One of the organisations that Daniel Andrews will meet on his first day in China was accused by the US government of seeking to “directly and malignly influence” state leaders.
In 2020, former secretary of state in the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, pulled out of a deal that set up a US-China National Governors Forum over concerns the Chinese Peoples’ Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) was trying to undermine its “well-intentioned purpose”.
In a press statement at the time, Mr Pompeo said CPAFFC – described as a “Beijing-based organisation tasked with co-opting subnational governments” had “sought to directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda”.
According to a brief schedule provided by the Premier’s office on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Andrews was due to meet with CPAFFC’s vice president Li Xukui.
The Herald Sun has put questions to the government about the nature of this meeting.
Mr Andrews will also meet with the Mayor of Beijing and China’s Minister of Education as part of his first official order of business in China.
Hours after touching down in Beijing on Tuesday, Mr Andrews met with Victoria’s Commissioner to Greater China, Brett Stevens, and Australia’s Ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher.
The daily schedule, provided to the media from Mr Andrews’ office, does not provide any further information about the meetings or what will be discussed.
It comes as the Andrews government faces criticism for its decision to not bring Victorian political reporters on the four-day trip.
That move has been slammed by chair of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, Peter Greste, and the media union who have both raised concerns that the trip lacked transparency.
Media president of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Karen Percy, wrote on Twitter that the decision to not take journalists on the trip was “deeply disappointing”.
Professor Greg Barton Research Professor and Chair of Global Islamic Politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute has questioned Dan Andrews’ China trips lack of transparency.
“The question mark that hangs over his trip is that he hasn’t taken even a small delegation of journalists, China is not transparent, there’s no way of relying on journalists in China, they aren’t in a position to do anything independently, they’re stuck.” Prof Barton said.
“I don’t think there is anything odd about him travelling, but the transparency thing is important on the Australian side.”
Professor Barton labelled Premier Andrews’ comments about the trip not being “picture-friendly” as “foolish.”
“It’s kind of a lame excuse, fair enough this is a boring trip of behind the doors business meetings, everyone understands that, but it’s not a good reason to not have journalists with you.” He said
“No one joins a political leader on an international trip because they’re hoping that they’ll get great pictures.”
But acting Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday defended the decision to not bring the media along because “this is very much a business trip”.
“It’s not an event trip. It’s very much full of meetings that will be focused on those really key important areas around international education, focusing on our trade relationships and continuing those really strong bonds that we have with our sister cities,” Ms Allan said.
Ms Allan also defended Mr Andrews’ decision to not raise the case of Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei with Chinese officials while he is overseas.
Ms Lei is currently detained in China, but Mr Andrews on Sunday said it wasn’t something he would discuss on his trip because it is “best dealt with by the Australian foreign service”.
Ms Allan on Tuesday said it was appropriate for the matter to be handled by the federal government.
“This is quite a sensitive matter. Matters of this nature are exclusively dealt with by the Commonwealth government,” she said.
Asked if the Victorian government had pushed the Commonwealth to ramp up their intervention, Ms Allan said: “I’ve got nothing further to add.”
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