China’s ambassador tells Clive Palmer: don’t insult us

CHINA’S ambassador to Australia, Ma Zhaoxu, has told Clive Palmer that “Chinese people are never to be insulted”.

An apologetic Clive Palmer in Canberra yesterday.

CHINA’S ambassador to Australia, Ma Zhaoxu, has told Clive Palmer that “Chinese people are never to be insulted”, following the Palmer United Party leader’s climbdown from remarks made on television last week.

Mr Palmer yesterday released a letter to Mr Ma in which he apologised “for any insult to Chinese people caused by any of the language I used” on the ABC’s Q&A program.

Without formally accepting the apology, Mr Ma stressed that “the Chinese people are never to be insulted”. “Any remarks attacking or slandering China will not gain support and are doomed to failure,’’ he said.

“The healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and cannot be overturned by any individual.”

Mr Palmer had told the ABC: “They’re communist, they shoot their own people, they haven’t got a justice system and they want to take over this country.”

He later claimed he was referring only to a “Chinese company which is taking Australian resources and not paying” — rather than to China or Chinese people more broadly. The ambassador’s statement, reinforced by the positive ­approach of Chinese media executives at a forum with Australian counterparts in Sydney on Monday, indicates that Mr Palmer’s ­insults have failed to disrupt the crucial final stage of free trade agreement negotiations between the countries.

Clive Palmer’s letter of apology

Dozens of protesters took to the lawns of Parliament House following the apology, waving Australian and Chinese flags and holding signs that read “Clive Palmer must step down” and chanted “Palmer must resign”.

Mr Ma noted that the Chinese government, the Chinese community in Australia, the Australian government “and people from all walks of life” had strongly condemned “Palmer’s insulting remarks on China … (which) could by no means represent the Australian government and parliament, let alone its people”.

This position was reinforced by experts within China. East China Normal University’s Australian Studies Centre professor Hou Minyue said Mr Palmer’s “racist remarks” could have a long-term damaging effect on his business dealings: “First, he was rude to China on television, then politicians from his party echoed his comments, and then he chose to apologise after there was a furore. His apology has come a bit too late. Is his apology ­sincere? Chinese people will need time to see.”

Foreign Affairs University Asia-Pacific Research Centre professor Su Hao, who wrote a critical piece in the Global Times on Mr Palmer’s comments, said: “Chinese people are tolerant enough to accept his apology, and this whole disturbance will start to calm down.” Mr Palmer is embroiled in court battles with Chinese company Citic Pacific, including over its claim that he ­siphoned $12 million for electoral funding from a bank account intended for port management.

He wrote to the ambassador that he had first visited China when just eight years old, and he cited “Chairman Mao” Zedong. “I most sincerely apologise … I regret any hurt or anguish such comments may have caused any party and I look forward to greater understanding for peace and co-operation in the ­future.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Treasurer Joe Hockey, while welcoming the apology, regretted that it took eight days.

Additional reporting: Wang Yuanyuan