Turnbull backs Pence’s tirade against China

Beijing yesterday accused US Vice President Mike Pence of having ‘slandered China’.

Vice President Mike Pence at a rally in Bozeman, Montana, this week. Picture: AP

Beijing yesterday accused US Vice-President Mike Pence of having “slandered China” and making “unwarranted accu­sations” that it was interfering in US domestic politics.

In a blistering speech, Mr Pence accused China of meddling in US society and attempting to undermine Donald Trump, warning that Washington would never bow to intimidation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying ­accused Mr Pence of using “hearsay evidence” and “creating something out of thin air”.

She called on the US to “stop groundlessly accusing and slandering China and harming China’s interests, and China-US ties” and to take action to improve relations.

Mr Pence’s comments came as former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said in Washington that every country had a right to ensure its politics were controlled by its own people.

When asked about the Pence speech, Mr Turnbull said: “I don’t want to get involved in American domestic politics but every nation has the right, the obligation, to ensure its own politics are in the hands of its own people.

“And that where foreigners seek to have a voice, and in a democracy, of course, they can, it has to be done openly and transparently,” he said after an address to the Centre For Strategic and International Studies.

US policy on Chinese interference has toughened this year after Washington observed Australia’s experience, which led Mr Turnbull as prime minister to introduce new foreign interference laws.

Mr Pence’s speech to the Hudson Institute in Washington was calculated to reflect Mr Trump’s more hawkish attitude to China.

It accused Beijing of reckless military harassment in the South China Sea and economic aggression against the US.

Mr Pence accused China of using “debt diplomacy” in Asia and elsewhere — an accusation that follows concerns expressed by Australia about China’s infrastructure activities in the South Pacific.

“The terms of those loans are opaque at best and the benefits flow overwhelmingly to Beijing,” he said.

But Mr Pence was scathing of China’s attempt to undermine the US President.

“China is meddling in American democracy … China wants a different president,” he said.

“China has initiated an unprecedented effort to influence American public opinion, the 2018 elections, and the environment leading into the 2020 elections.

“The American people deserve to know that in response to the strong stand President Trump has taken, Beijing is pushing a comprehensive and co-ordinated campaign to undermine support for the President, our agenda, and our nation’s most cherished ideals.”

Mr Pence said intelligence leaders had told him that China’s interference across US society was now far larger and more pervasive than that of Russia.

“China is targeting US state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy,” he said.

“It’s using wedge issues, like tariffs, to advance Beijing’s political influence.”

Mr Pence said China’s military was becoming more assertive and aggressive in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, citing a Chinese naval vessel coming within 45m of the guided missile destroyer USS Decatur as it conducted freedom-of-navigation operations around the Spratly ­Islands.

“Despite such reckless harassment, the US Navy will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows and our national interests demand.

“We will not be intimidated, we will not stand down.”

The vehemence of the US Vice- President’s attack appears to have caught Beijing off guard, despite the increasingly belligerent comments of the Trump adminis­tration towards China.