Hillary Clinton sounds the alarm on China’s foreign influence laws

HILLARY Clinton has issued a stark warning to Australia and New Zealand, saying “a new global battle is just getting started”.

HILLARY Clinton has sounded the alarm over foreign interference by China.

Speaking on a tour in Auckland, the Democratic presidential candidate urged us to take the rising superpower more seriously.

“In Australia and here in New Zealand experts are sounding the alarm about Chinese efforts to gain political power and influence policy decisions,” she said.

Hillary Clinton has urged us to take rising China more seriously.

She also praised Anne-Marie Brady, a New Zealand academic who has conducted extensive work on China’s global influence campaign.

“Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury has rightly called this a new global battle, and it’s just getting started. We need to take it seriously.”

Earlier this year, Ms Brady said her home was broken into, and three laptops, two mobile phones and an encrypted memory stick from her last trip to China were taken.

“I had a break-in in my office last December. I received a warning letter, this week, that I was about to be attacked. And yesterday I had a break-in at my house,” she told Canberra officials, according to the New Zealand Herald.

She also said people she’s recently associated with in China were questioned about their association with her.

Ms Clinton herself was the target of an influence campaign spearheaded by Russian operatives in the 2016 election, which she lost to Donald Trump.

New Zealand’s leader Jacinda Ardern echoed the remarks, telling reporters Ms Clinton’s statements about China were not new.

“There are a number of world powers that have an interest in our region and, of course, New Zealand needs to maintain our role in building our relationships because there is that greater presence here,” she said.

Jacinda Ardern echoed Hillary Clinton’s warning about China.

The warning comes a week after Australian academic Professor Clive Hamilton warned China was waging a “campaign of psychological warfare” against us.

The Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia author told US Congress the rising superpower has “scaled up its threats of economic harm” and will continue to do so unless Australia “changes its ‘anti-China’ path”.

“This psychological warfare is only stage one, with real punishment to follow if needed.”

China has consistently denied engaging in foreign interference, with the state-run Global Times newspaper describing Australia’s behaviour in recent years as “baffling” and “repugnant” over the issue.

Last month Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull conceded there were tensions with China over the foreign interference laws.

“There’s clearly been some tension in the relationship following the introduction of our legislation about foreign interference,” he told radio 3AW.

“But I am very confident that any misunderstandings will be resolved.”

Ms Clinton will speak in Melbourne on Thursday and Sydney on Friday.

— With wires