Beijing takes swipe at ‘arrogant’ Wong

China’s most influential state tabloid has launched a broadside at Australia’s new Foreign Minister Penny Wong, accusing her of trying to drive a wedge between China and Pacific nations.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Pacific Islands Forum secretary general Henry Puna. Source: Twitter: @stephendziedzic /ABC News

China’s most influential state tabloid, the Global Times, has launched a broadside at Australia’s new Foreign Minister Penny Wong, accusing her of trying to drive a wedge between China and Pacific nations following her dash to Fiji in a bid to head off Beijing’s push for a regional security deal.

The fiery editorial, which accuses Senator Wong of “double standards, arrogant colonialism and imperialism” comes as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets leaders of 10 Pacific nations in Suva on Monday to pitch the lucrative five-year plan.

Senator Wong raced to Fiji just days after being sworn in to reaffirm Australia’s commitment to Pacific nations, pointedly noting that Australia was “a partner that doesn’t come with strings attached”.

A leaked draft of the proposal Mr Wang will take to Monday’s meeting of Pacific Foreign Ministers has revealed China wants a sweeping 10-country security and free-trade deal that would also include training for local police in return for Chinese-backed infrastructure development and greater access to natural resources, particularly fishing.

Pacific Islands Forum secretary general Henry Puna invited closer economic co-operation with China in welcoming remarks to Mr Wang on Sunday.

“As our Pacific borders re-open and we adapt to life with Covid-19, we invite greater engagement with China to learn from and connect with your economic innovation and your education, trade, and business development opportunities,” Mr Puna said.

Adding to Canberra’s concerns about China’s push into the region, the Solomon Islands signed a bilateral security pact with Beijing last month and on Saturday Samoa’s government revealed a new “economic and technical co-operation” agreement inked by Mr Wang in his eight-day tour of the Pacific. The details of the Samoa agreement remain unclear and no questions were allowed at the press conference announcing the deal.

In its comment piece on Sunday, the Global Times, which is published under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper the People’s Daily, said Senator Wong’s rhetoric of leaving regional security to the Pacific region showed hypocrisy and double standards.

“Why has Australia been so enthusiastic in carrying out the freedom of navigation operations with the US in the South China Sea, far away from their own regions?” the newspaper asked, pointing also to Australia’s role in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on “the Taiwan question”.

In stressing a “Pacific family”, Senator Wong was insinuating that China was the outsider and that Australia was the head of the family – “or in other words, the hegemon in the region, so as to impose its will on other family members”, the newspaper said, quoting Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University.

“On the other hand, like Wong’s remarks, Canberra’s real attitude toward South Pacific islands is not about whether they are ‘family’, but double standards, arrogant colonialism and imperialism,” the paper said.

Accusing Australia and the US of “hyping up” a non-existent security threat from China, the Global Times said the real threat to the Pacific came from climate change.

Senator Wong’s focus on climate change “does not change the fact that Canberra has for a so long time casted [sic] a cold eye to the issue,” the paper said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made re-engagement with Pacific nations a priority since taking office, with China’s deal giving Beijing a large security and trade footprint in a region crucial to Australian interests.