China doubles down on four demands to repair Australia ties

China has doubled down on its four demands for Australia, despite Anthony Albanese warning he wouldn’t bend to the will of Beijing.

China has doubled down on its demands to improve Beijing-Canberra ties, after Anthony Albanese warned the country he wouldn’t be bossed around.

Over the weekend, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong with a four-point list of things that need to be done to repair the relationship between the two countries.

The demands were as followed:

1. Australia must treat China as a “partner rather than a rival”.

2. The two countries must seek “common ground while shelving difference.

3. Australia must reject “manipulation by a third party” – which was a clear reference to the US.

4. Both countries must build “public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism”.

Mr Albanese offered a cold response to the list, telling China that Australia doesn’t respond to demands.

“Look, Australia doesn’t respond to demands. We respond to our own national interest,’’ the Prime Minister said.

“I’ll say this. We will co-operate with China where we can. I want to build good relations with all countries. But we will stand up for Australia’s interests when we must.”

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Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said Australia doesn’t respond to demands. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Now Beijing has responded to Mr Albanese, reiterating the need for Australia to follow its demands if it wants diplomatic relations to improve.

The country’s response came in the form of an editorial piece published by the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Global Times.

The publication accused the Australian and US media of “making up” a story in which Beijing put pressure on Canberra, which Mr Albanese then resisted.

The article warned that in doing so, Mr Albanese had “created obstacles” for his government with China, putting Canberra in a “difficult position”.

China claimed the four-point “proposal” presented by Mr Wang was “both sincere and reasonable” but had been twisted into something else by people with an “ulterior motive”.

“Nowadays, American and Western opinion is very keen to use ‘values’ to hold Canberra captive, and Australian authorities also like to talk about ‘Australian interests’ or ‘Australian values’,” the Global Times stated.

“We really hope that Australia can truly put its own national interests first, and at the same time we want to point out that it’s up to Australia as to what kind of values it wants to hold and China has no intention of interfering and changing Australia’s values.

“To be honest, Australia always emphasises this concern, which makes China feel very strange.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Li Xiang/Xinhua via Getty Images

Beijing also pointed out that Australia “fired the first shot” in straining the Australia-China relationship by becoming the first country to ban Huawei and other Chinese suppliers from providing 5G equipment.

The editorial also accused Australia of serving as a “belligerent voice” in provoking China on a number of issues.

China urged Australia to “cherish” the goodwill put forward through the four-point proposal and to “meet China halfway” in repairing the relationship.

Speaking to ABC’s Radio National on Wednesday morning, Mr Albanese was asked if Ms Wong’s meeting with her Beijing counterpart had brought about any change to the sanctions currently impacting Australian exports.

The Prime Minister said there had been no immediate change since the meeting, but said there was no excuse for such sanctions.

“China needs to acknowledge that there’s no justification for this and remove it,” he said.

Mr Albanese also emphasised that, while he wanted to see more co-operation with China, Australia would always stand up for its national interests first.

Pacific Minister Pat Conroy made similar comments earlier this week, telling the ABC that Australia welcomed increasing dialogue with China, but the government would continue to make the point that “Australia hasn’t changed”.

“Dialogue is really important, and we’ve got a number of issues that we’re working to resolve there,” Mr Conroy said.

“Our national interests haven’t changed … but we are committed to that dialogue.

“The attitude of the new Australian government is essentially the same as the last Australian government on the issue of China and their increasing assertiveness in the region.”