‘Rude, inappropriate’: Albanese toughens language on Cheng Lei incident as Chinese premier departs

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted his government has improved relations with China without giving ground on core values, as he revealed he complained directly to Chinese Premier Li Qiang about embassy officials’ disrespectful treatment of journalist Cheng Lei.

Albanese toughened his language late on Tuesday afternoon after coming under attack by the opposition for failing to condemn the embassy officials’ behaviour strongly enough. He described the conduct as “rude”, “entirely inappropriate” and “counterproductive”, while the government separately blasted China for “dangerous and illegal” behaviour in the South China Sea.

Albanese said he was confident that China’s remaining major trade blockages would be lifted within weeks, allowing Australian rock lobster and crayfish to again enter the Chinese market in a welcome sign to seafood exporters.

The prime minister said he had discussed lobster with Li and, when asked if China would overturn the restrictions, responded: “Well, we certainly hope to see that in coming weeks.”

Albanese said Li would not have missed the fact that he was served lobster in Perth on Tuesday, as he was in Adelaide two days earlier, in moves designed to showcase the high quality of Australian seafood.

Li departed Western Australia on Tuesday evening, concluding a four-day visit intended to celebrate the improvement in bilateral relations over the past two years, but overshadowed by Chinese embassy officials’ attempts on Monday to block Cheng from being captured by television cameras.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lashed Albanese for failing to call out the Chinese officials’ behaviour swiftly on Monday, saying the prime minister needed to “grow a backbone” after Albanese initially called the conduct “clumsy” and “ham-fisted” on Tuesday morning.

By Tuesday afternoon, Albanese had said the “idea of standing between a camera and a journalist is just clearly inappropriate”.

“That was rude what occurred and, frankly, just counterproductive from the Chinese side and just drew attention to the fact that Cheng Lei was there,” he said in an interview with 6PR.

Albanese said he raised the matter directly with Li in their discussions and told Beijing’s second-in-command that the embassy officials’ conduct was “unacceptable and not appropriate behaviour”.

“We do have differences. We have different political systems, different values, but we need to work those things through,” he said.

“We’re a democracy, China is not, and I think that is just something that needs to be acknowledged and recognised ... We need to uphold our values, but what my government has done is to be able to stabilise the relationship without making any concessions for our values.”

On Tuesday evening the government issued a statement criticising “dangerous and illegal actions” by Chinese vessels that rammed Philippines boats in the South China Sea the previous day, causing injuries to crew and damage to Philippines vessels.

“This is an escalation in a pattern of deeply concerning and destabilising behaviour by China,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

“This conduct endangers peace and security in the region, threatens lives and livelihoods, and creates risks of miscalculation and escalation.”

Journalist Cheng Lei at a press conference after the incident.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

‘Incredible disrespect’

Dutton told a press conference earlier on Tuesday afternoon that he had met the Chinese premier on Monday and raised Cheng’s treatment.

Cheng was released from a Chinese prison last October after having been detained in August 2020 at the height of tensions between Australia and China over human rights, trade disputes and COVID.

During Monday’s signing ceremony between Albanese and Li, Chinese officials tried to block Cheng from featuring in footage of the event. Public servants from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet tried to move them, but they remained in place.

Dutton said that Albanese needed to “grow a backbone and stand up for our country”.

“I do want to point out that the prime minister clearly misled the Australian people yesterday when he got up and did a press conference and said that he heard nothing of it, he didn’t understand what the question was, or didn’t know anything about it. It’s completely inconceivable,” he said.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Chinese officials showed “incredible disrespect to us and our customs and norms to treat a journalist in that way” and said they owed an apology.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham also accused Albanese of being “quite pathetic” by not addressing the matter in the first instance on Monday.

“This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials. It should have been called out by our prime minister, and government officials had the good sense to try to step in,” he told Sky News on Tuesday morning.

Comment has been sought from the Chinese embassy about the incident and whether it would apologise to Australian officials.

Benjamin Herscovitch, a China expert at the Australian National University, said Li’s visit had been a broad success, but noted that “points of tension and differences kept bubbling to the surface”.

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