A diplomatic incident

After listening to Andrew Forrest being interviewed on the radio, I thought he spoke in a mild and sensible manner. I was bemused to read Liberal MP Andrew Hastie saying that Forrest should focus on his business interests and let the government run foreign policy. The sabre-rattling indulged in by some politicians and commentators may not be the best way to run foreign policy. I suspect Forrest has, without fanfare, achieved much more to combat COVID-19 than Hastie and his colleagues.

Ian Pollock, Maleny, QLD

It is scandalous that the spokesman for a repressive dictatorship was afforded a platform to parrot the party line. Any person in China who publicly airs views inconsistent with Chinese policy would quickly discover the limits of free expression there.

Does Andrew Forrest stand with the China that suppressed news of the viral outbreak in its territory, and arrested a doctor who tried to raise the alert about the threat? The China that covered up information about the virus until after it had stripped foreign countries of medical supplies needed in the fight against the disease? The China that generously donated to European countries defective medical equipment that was rejected as unfit for purpose? The China whose navy recently rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat?

John O’Donovan, Aranda ACT

First Andrew Forrest suggests any inquiry into China’s handling of COVID-19 should be delayed until after the US election. Then he allows his press conference with Australia’s health minister to be hijacked by a Chinese official for propaganda purposes. For all the good he has done for this country, these decisions will be a stain on his reputation.

Jonathan Whybird, Springwood, QLD

What a storm in a tea cup. It’s hardly an “ambush” for Greg Hunt to attend an official event marking the purchase of test kits from China alongside a Chinese diplomat.

Andrew Forrest is right that Australia should not act as Trump’s deputy sheriff in his attempt to pin the blame for America’s disastrous response to COVID-19 on China and the World Health Organistion. An international inquiry is needed, but it will not happen without China’s cooperation, and public lecturing and posturing by an middle power will not achieve that goal, except to invite backlash from nationalist Chinese consumers who can be easily manipulated by the state media.

Han Yang, North Turramurra, NSW

Twiggy Forrest has done a lot of good in the community, and I thank him for them, but giving China a free kick isn’t one of them.

Claire Brittain, Claremont, WA

I wholeheartedly support Andrew Hastie’s view that Andrew Forrest would better serve his country by concentrating on his business interests rather than wandering into the political sphere.

Dick Crane, Killarney Heights, NSW

Australia’s vast iron ore deposits are a resource in which all Australians have equity. Revenue from the export of those deposits to China have underwritten indigenous welfare and employment in the Pilbara, and now the purchase of 10 million COVID-19 testing kits. We can all afford to be as conspicuous and as generous in recognising the role of China and the Australian middle-man who made all of this possible, Andrew Forrest, as he is in exercising his considerable entrepreneurial skills and philanthropy on our behalf.

Roger Tonkin, Newtown, NSW

Andrew Forrest’s initiative in securing COVID tests kits from mates in China is to be commended. It is to be hoped the kits are of better quality than some of the health aids sent to Europe where one mayor suggested that masks received were best tossed into the Danube.

Mick Parry, Shelley, WA

Greg Sheridan’s reference to “a virtual love duet” between Health Minister Greg Hunt and the Chinese consul-general is hardly reflected in the photograph of Hunt leaving the podium following his meeting with Zhou Long and Andrew Forrest (“Beijing’s global message is clear: tremble and obey,” 30/4). The expression that a picture is worth a thousand words is superbly depicted in the minister’s look of shock and dismay. An ambush it certainly was.

Phil Wilkins, Forster, NSW