Peter Dutton won’t waver on China

Peter Dutton has said he would not back down from attacking the hostile actions of Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Peter Dutton says standing up for Australia’s national interest is “not a condemnation of people of Chinese heritage” and declared he would not back down from attacking the hostile actions of Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party.

The Opposition Leader on Wednesday warned against appeasing Mr Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin and said Australia must “call out bad behaviour” amid unprecedented military, cyber and foreign interference threats.

After The Australian revealed some Liberal Party members were concerned about Chinese-Australian voters abandoning the former government in key seats at the May 21 election, Mr Dutton praised the “incredible diaspora community of people of Chinese heritage and Asian heritage in our country”.

“We should celebrate that. They are in a country like ours ­because they value peace and ­because they want to be part of a wonderful democracy where we value the rule of law and we call out people like President Putin and President Xi for their activities and their actions,” he said.

“We want a normalised relationship with China. They are an important trading partner, but we aren’t going to tolerate the sort of bullying behaviour and the over-the-top reactions that we are ­seeing.

“I’m not criticising the Chinese people – far from it. In fact, the complete opposite. I want the rule of law to apply in our region. I don’t want corrupt practices to take place. I want there to be a respectful relationship toward us, and I want us to have a respectful relationship toward the Chinese government as well.”

Despite some in his party urging him to tone down his rhetoric, Mr Dutton said his comments attacking the CCP and People’s Liberation Army have always been directed at “China under President Xi (who) has appointed himself leader for life”.

“We need people to hear the reality of what is happening at the moment. The South China Sea could plunge into conflict at any stage. One of these exercises could turn into an incursion tomorrow and we have to be realistic about that because the threat to our peace and stability in our region is very real,” he said.

Mr Dutton, a former defence and home affairs minister, said he “didn’t want to see happen in Taiwan what we’ve seen in Ukraine”.

“That’s why we all need to work very closely together with allies and with partners like Japan, like India, Vietnam and others who are calling out the actions as well.

“The foreign interference, not just the military exercises that we are seeing now, but the covert activity online – cyber attacks, industrial scale cyber attacks, the collection of people’s health records and aged-care records.”

Offering bipartisan support to Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, Mr Dutton said it was an “absurdity” for Australia to be condemned when China was launching online attacks.

“We should be honest about the situation that we face. If we’re not, we will find ourselves two, or three, or five years down the track on a path that we just can’t correct,” he said.

Earlier on 2GB, Mr Dutton said he would not change his rhetoric because “I think it’s right to stand up for our national interest”.

“I want to make sure that peace prevails and we’re living in a period similar to the 1930s and an approach of appeasement doesn’t work,” he said. “That’s not a slight on the Russian people, when we talk about President Putin. It’s not a slight on the North Korean people when we talk about the North Korean dictator and it’s not a slight on the Chinese – who are wonderful people and wonderful migrants to our country – when you’re talking about President Xi.”