Andrew Forrest’s Chinese ambush of Hunt denounced
Andrew Forrest’s decision to invite China consul-general to a ministerial press event draws accusations of disloyalty.
One of Australia’s richest men has blindsided the Morrison government by helping a Chinese diplomat gatecrash a ministerial press conference at the height of Australia’s most serious rift with Beijing in decades.
Andrew Forrest’s decision to invite China’s consul-general for Victoria, Long Zhou, to speak at the podium in Melbourne on Wednesday alongside Greg Hunt, catching the Health Minister off-guard and embarrassing him, drew accusations of disloyalty and selfishness from government MPs.
The mining magnate, who announced that he had procured 10 million COVID-19 test kits for Australia through Chinese business contacts, had earlier taken to the airwaves to take a swipe at both Scott Morrison and US President Donald Trump over the proposed timing of the inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.
Days after China’s top diplomat in Australia warned that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef and wine, Mr Forrest said Australia should take a more conciliatory approach to China and suggested the government’s proposed inquiry would help Mr Trump’s campaign for re-election.
“I don’t see what the rush is all about. If this is held after the US presidential election, then let’s just say there’s not going to be a political dog in this fight,” Mr Forrest told the ABC. “There’s a bloke in the White House who really wants to stay there and he’s pushing blame as fast as he possibly can from anywhere else but himself.
“I don’t think this should be politically orientated.”
Senior government ministers sought to play down the press conference incident, saying the consul-general had offered an “olive branch” by declaring the co-operation was a “testimony of the friendship and the co-operation between our two countries”.
On Thursday morning, Mr Forrest defended his decision to invite the Consul General, calling it a “non-story” and a “beat up.”
“In Perth, I brought the Chinese consul general because of the PPE (personal protective equipment) crisis we had weeks ago,’’ he told Sunrise.
“In Melbourne, I (did) the same thing. He made a fantastic speech. The Minister made a fantastic speech.”
Mr Forrest said that Mr Hunt’s apparent annoyance at Mr Zhou’s appearance was due to a journalist trying to stop him from leaving the press conference. “The minister did walk out looking a bit grumpy and the media jumped all over that, amazing to watch,” Mr Forrest said.
“He looked a bit grumpy because a journalist almost tried to trip him to stop him leaving and ask him a whole heap of questions... that had nothing to do with the press conference. This is the biggest beat up ever.”
Yet there was outrage on the government backbench.
Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said his fellow West Australian, Mr Forrest, should focus on his business interests and let the government run its foreign policy. “Now is not the time for games. Australia must come first,” Mr Hastie said.
“This guy drops out of the sky in his private jet and enables the Chinese Communist Party to ambush a commonwealth press conference. Yeah, we’re not happy.”
Former resources minister Matt Canavan accused Mr Forrest of a PR stunt, saying the nation’s mining leaders were “disconcertingly vague” when it came to supporting Australia’s interests over China’s.
“No proud nation should put themselves in a position where another country can dictate its foreign policy,” he said.
Fellow Liberal Tim Wilson also weighed in, accusing Mr Forrest of disloyalty. “In a diplomatic disagreement, it’s a pretty basic expectation for Australians to be loyal and back their own, not invite a platform for a foreign spokesperson,” he said.
Mr Forrest later said he invited the Chinese consul-general to Mr Hunt’s press conference, but said Mr Hunt, who learned of Mr Long’s attendance at the last minute, had welcomed the diplomat’s attendance as “a gesture of appreciation and friendship between our two great countries”.
Mr Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation advanced $320m, to be repaid by taxpayers, to obtain the COVID-19 test kits and machines, with the support of Chinese business contacts from the Beijing Genomics Institute.
The Prime Minister dismissed Beijing’s resistance to his proposed COVID-19 inquiry as “a matter for them”, declaring China needed Australia as much as Australia needed its biggest trading partner. “The thing about our relationship with China is it is a mutually beneficial one. It is a comprehensive strategic partnership,” he said.
Mr Morrison said Australia would continue to advocate for the “very reasonable and sensible course of action”.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the world needed to determine the virus’s origin — whether from a bat or other species — to ensure the human and economic tragedy sweeping the globe did not occur again. “Where else did it start if it wasn’t in Wuhan?” he said. “What other concentrations or clusters were there in other jurisdictions?”
Business figures are growing increasingly concerned at the impact of the running diplomatic battle on Australia’s $153bn-a-year exports industry to China.
PwC Asia practice leader Andrew Parker said Australia could not be complacent about the economic relationship between the two countries.
“There is no alternative to the China market. Let’s be completely clear about that. If winemakers or iron ore producers could sell their products to India or Indonesia or anywhere else, they would have done that,” Mr Parker said.
The Australian Industry Group also called for an urgent reset of the relationship.
“We all hope we can put the relationship back on a strong footing as soon as possible,” AiGroup chief executive Innes Willox said.
The consul-general’s attendance at the press conference came amid a war of words between the Chinese embassy and the Australian government and after the resignation of National Foundation for Australia-China Relations chairman Warwick Smith.
In the latest blow, Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye defended his decision to reveal details of a private conversation with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson — a serious breach of diplomatic conventions — arguing that he was setting the record straight.
He earlier claimed Ms Adamson had “congratulated” China for getting on top of the coronavirus and said it was “not the time to commence the review now”.
China’s foreign affairs spokesman also took up the fight, saying Australia’s “erroneous words and deeds recently have upset the Chinese people and … may impact bilateral relations”.
Mr Smith told The Australian on Wednesday that one of the main reasons he had stepped down from the China relations body in February was because it had lost its “independence”.
He said it was important that the foundation was not seen as an arm of government, particularly given the increased tensions in the diplomatic relationship.
“It was going to operate more like a branch of DFAT,” he said. “For it to operate effectively, I believe it should be seen to be more independent from government.”
Additional reporting: Glenda Korporaal, Lachlan Moffet Gray
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