No evidence of China interference: Bob Carr

Bob Carr has refused to concede China has interfered in local politics, noting “every country promotes its interests”.

Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr attends a press conference at Beijing's Tsinghua University in 2016. Picture: Getty Images

Labor’s former Foreign Minister Bob Carr has refused to concede China has interfered or attempted to interfere politically in Australia, saying only that “every country promotes its interests”.

In an interview with David Speers on Sky News this morning, Mr Carr — who was drafted to replace Kevin Rudd in the top diplomatic job after a botched leadership spill — said he is otherwise in lock-step with the Turnbull government on China’s aggressive domination of the South China Sea.

“One brutally realistic interpretation presented last week by (Liberal Senator and former army officer) Jim Molan is that China has won through its forward-leaning and dominance in the region,” he said.

“I don’t see what options Australia has left beyond a vigorous diplomacy to assert our position that the international law should apply.”

Mr Carr, who now heads the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, said although he would have gone further in drafting foreign interference legislation to include Australian organisations seeking to influence the nation’s foreign policy, said he has seen no evidence of interference from China.

“Every country promotes its interests in Australia … define your terms, David, and then I might be able to respond,” he said when pressed directly about “interference.”

Former Prime Minister John Howard told The Australian last week that Mr Carr belongs to the “tickle-my-tummy school of relations with China.”

When asked if former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari was compromised by donor Huang Xiangmo — especially when Mr Dastyari held a press conference asserting China’s position on its militarised islands — Mr Carr said it was “ill-advised.”

“We can debate that endlessly, I think it was ill-advised but whether he attempted to push a pro-Chinese orientation is another matter,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone has put any evidence that a donor has sought that kind of interference. If China was seeking to swamp Australian political parties with money surely there would have been a pattern of donations.”

Chinese-born Australian billionaire Dr Chau Chak Wing, who has a building named after him at UTS where Mr Carr is based, was named last month in parliament by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie as being the alleged Australian figure involved in a UN-bribery case.

Mr Carr questioned whether donations to universities counted as interference.

“You cannot talk about donations to universities as an attempt to influence policy,” he said.