Election 2022: ALP deputy Richard Marles gave Chinese embassy first look at speech

ALP deputy shared with the Chinese embassy in Canberra the contents of a speech before delivering it in Beijing.

Richard Marles with fellow delegates Tanya Plibersek and Ted O’Brien at a dinner with Yuan Yue in China in 2019.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles shared with the Chinese embassy in Canberra the contents of a speech – in which he said Chinese investment in the Pacific was a “good thing” and called for closer military ties between Australia and China – before delivering it in Beijing.

The Weekend Australian can reveal Mr Marles, who was then Labor’s defence spokesman, arrived in Beijing on his own several days before the start of a study tour that was organised by a controversial think-tank, China Matters, which has since been stripped of its Australian government funding over concerns about its agenda.

Accompanied by Chinese government officials, Mr Marles delivered the speech at the Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2019 and also met a senior Communist Party figure, Guo Yezhou.

Mr Guo is Vice Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

In the speech at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Mr Marles said China’s financial assistance in the Pacific was a “good thing” and argued Australia should welcome China’s presence in the region.

The remarks, reported by The Australian on Friday, undermined Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s attack on the Morrison government over its failure to stop the Solomon Islands signing a security deal with China.

In the speech, Mr Marles also raised Australia’s concerns about the Uighur population in Xinjiang.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra was provided with a copy of the speech in advance but no changes were made afterwards.

The Australian embassy in China and the Beijing Foreign Studies University were also provided with a copy.

In the speech, Mr Marles said Australia should not be “attempting to engage in the strategic ­denial of others” in the Pacific ­islands.

“Back in 2012 I was also very cognisant of the growing role that China was playing in providing development assistance in the ­Pacific,” he said.

“Let me be crystal clear: that was and has been a good thing. The Pacific needs help and Australia needs to welcome any country willing to provide it. Certainly the Pacific island countries themselves do.”

Controversially, Mr Marles also called for closer military co-operation between China and Australia.

These comments were used by Scott Morrison to describe Mr Marles as a Manchurian ­candidate, a remark he formally withdrew.

Despite calling for closer military ties, Mr Marles also referred to China’s human rights abuses in his speech – messages that would not have been well received by Chinese officials.

“When necessary we will raise our concerns, as we have about the minority Uighur population in Xinjiang, or the situation in Hong Kong,” he said in the speech.

“We do this on behalf of all Australians who believe people have a right to express their views through peaceful and lawful ­assembly.

“So of course, at the same time, violence can never be condoned even in the form of protest.

“We look toward a peaceful resolution in Hong Kong.

“A resolution that delivers the agreed promise of ‘one country, two systems. What happens in Hong Kong matters to us, it ­matters to the world, and it is vital the ‘one country, two systems’ ­arrangement in Hong Kong is maintained.”

While Mr Marles provided the speech to the Chinese embassy in advance, complete with the ­criticisms that would have upset the embassy, he did not make any changes to it.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek and Liberal MP Ted O’Brien were also on the China study tour.

Asked what he recalled of the speech, Mr O’Brien said he had not personally heard it but he did recall a discussion about it among some members of the tour group on the trip.

“Richard said he’d consulted with others about the contents of the speech before giving it, including with Chinese officials,” Mr O’Brien said.

“While I thought it was odd at the time, the comment really stuck with me after returning home and reading the speech for myself.”

Mr O’Brien said that during the group discussions on the study tour, Ms Plibersek was “more assertive” than Mr Marles, which surprised him.

The speech took place on the trip but wasn’t part of the official China Matters schedule, with Mr Marles flying separately to Beijing several days earlier.

Two months after that trip, Liberal politicians Andrew Hastie and James Paterson were denied entry to China on the third delegation of that study tour planned for December 2019.

Mr Morrison described Mr Marles’s comments in his speech and in an August 2021 book that Pacific island nations should ­welcome China’s investment as’ ‘chilling’’ and “incredibly concerning’’.

The Prime Minister accused Mr Marles of “hypocrisy’’ for attacking the government eight months after making his comments

Speaking on 4BC on Friday morning, Mr Morrison said: “What I find galling is that the Labor Party were attacking us over this issue, and he who would be deputy prime minister and wants to be defence minister in a Labor government has actually been advocating for what the Chinese government has been seeking to do,” he said.

“Now that should be incredibly concerning and chilling for people to know what Labor really thinks and what Labor’s deputy prime minister would be advocating sitting around the national security table.”

Mr Albanese defended Mr Marles and said his deputy’s comments indicated that the region was facing increased competition and Australia needed to try and avoid “catastrophe” as that competition heated up.

“We need to recognise that there is that strategic competition in the region – that China is trying to extend its influence,” the Opposition Leader told the ABC.

“If we are to maintain our influence, we need to respond, be ­forward-leaning, make sure that we’re engaged on the policy issues that are of concern to the Solomons, but also be engaged with ­issues like foreign aid be partners of choice – that historically is the role that we have played in the ­Pacific.”

Mr Albanese said that if Labor came into government it would engage on a “deeper level” and on issues particularly of concern to Pacific island nations such as climate change.