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Chinese embassy says foreign interference laws undermine trust

The Chinese embassy has accused Australian MPs and officials of undermining ‘mutual trust’.

Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye has labelled Australian media reports about the influence of the Chinese government in Australia as fabrications.
Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye has labelled Australian media reports about the influence of the Chinese government in Australia as fabrications.

The Chinese embassy in Australia has issued a furious statement in response to the new foreign interference laws and rhetoric around the Senator Sam Dastyari controversy, accusing Australian politicians and officials of undermining “mutual trust”.

Yesterday Malcolm Turnbull announced new laws aimed at curbing foreign influence in Australian politics amid growing fears over the use of cash and covert activities to undermine the national interest.

The Coalition have also launched a major attack on Senator Sam Dastyari about allegations he warned political donor Huang Xiangmo about potential Australian intelligence surveillance, questioning his loyalty to Australia.

Earlier this week the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman made more mild comments in response to the laws rejecting any accusation that the country was interfering in Australian politics.

On Wednesday the embassy issued an unusually fierce statement, saying mutual trust had been undermined.

“Some Australian politicians and government officials also made irresponsible remarks to the detriment of political mutual trust between China and Australia. We categorically reject those allegations,” the Spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in Australia said.

Earlier in the year Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye labelled Australian media reports about the influence of the Chinese government in Australia as fabrications.

The embassy spokesman repeated these accusations, but went further saying the media reports were racist and had “tarnished Australia’s reputation.

Senator Sam Dastyari in the Senate chamber today. Photo: Kym Smith
Senator Sam Dastyari in the Senate chamber today. Photo: Kym Smith

“Over the recent period, some Australian media have repeatedly fabricated news stories about the so-called Chinese influence and infiltration in Australia.”

“Those reports, which were made up out of thin air and filled with cold war mentality and ideological bias, reflected a typical anti-China hysteria and paranoid.”

“The relevant reports not only made unjustifiable accusations against the Chinese government, but also unscrupulously vilified the Chinese students as well as the Chinese community in Australia with racial prejudice, which in turn has tarnished Australia’s reputation as a multicultural society.”

The embassy statement said the Australian side needed to take a more “objective” view of the relationship.

“China has been committed to developing its friendly relations with other countries on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, which is one of the main principles of Chinese foreign policy.”

“China has no intention to interfere in Australia’s internal affairs or exert influence on its political process through political donations.”

“We urge the Australian side to look at China and China-Australia relations in an objective, fair and rational manner.”

China’s foreign ministry responded to the introduction by the Turnbull government of legislation protecting against foreign interference, by urging Australia to “discard bias and look at China and China-Australia relations in an objective and fair manner.”

Spokesman Geng Shuang said that “we have no intention to interfere in Australia’s internal affairs or exert influence through political donations.”

In its Chinese language edition, Global Times on Wednesday attacked the Canberra measures as “reminding us of McCarthyism in the 1950s US — Australia is almost obsessed with antagonism against China.”

It described Australia — “one of the greatest beneficiaries amongst Western countries of China’s rise” — as also being “one of those most actively making trouble against China, like a piece of chewing gum sticking to the sole of a Chinese shoe.”

Mr Geng said that China always follows a principle of mutual respect and noninterference in other countries’ affairs when it comes to developing friendly co-operation, “and this principle holds true for developing bilateral ties with Australia.”

He said: “The sound and steady development of the China-Australia relationship serves not only the interests of China but also those of Australia. We hope the Australian side could have a clear understanding of that.”

Earlier, he had stressed that “China does not interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs.”

He said: “We urge the relevant people in Australia to discard prejudice and speak and act more in a way that will be conducive to boosting the China-Australia relationship and deepening co-operation.”

A sound and steady China-Australia relationship serves the common interests of both sides, he added.

The Global Times article said that Beijing should be especially watchful of how Australia responds to the revival of the US-Japan-Australia-India “quadrilateral” mechanism.

“If Australia is going to promote it actively,” the newspaper urged, “China should use trade leverage to pressure it. We will not allow Australia to do business with China, while in the meantime actively damaging China’s strategic security.”

The newspaper published a cartoon with a Chinese figure telling an Australia figure who is eating: “Hi, Aussie boy, you shouldn’t pick up the bowl to eat from, then put the bowl down and curse it!”

This echoes President Xi Jinping’s often-repeated remark about intellectuals in China — especially those in salaried jobs at universities — needing to demonstrate greater gratitude to the communist party: “You shouldn’t eat from our rice bowl, then smash it.”

In a commentary published on Tuesday by Global Times, Lilly Wang, a Beijing based journalist who lived in Sydney from 2014-2016, said: “Although many Chinese students come to Australia for education and cultural exchange, they rarely engage with Australian society. Instead, Chinese students in Australia live in a ‘parallel society’.”

She said that while it is true that Chinese students do not make enough efforts to integrate themselves into the culture, “it requires a lot of confidence and courage to make friends with Australian students, and get involved in local social events.”

And Australian universities have “not really” done much to help Chinese students regarding cultural exchange.

While most Australian students are very friendly, she wrote, “there is not so much initiative by them to make international friends outside of their own friends’ circle, and they do not have much interest in China.”

The Australians may say “sure, let’s hang out,” Ms Wang said, “but they never call back.”

There are many reasons why Chinese students support their government, she said. “Chinese students grew up under the educational and cultural system ruled by the Communist Party.”

She said: “They were educated to be patriotic and to think and believe as the Chinese government does. That they politically support the Chinese government does not equate them to being spies.”

Chinese students come to Australia to study critical thinking and how to be open-minded, she said. “It is not Australia’s place to critique a student’s political standpoints. You cannot expect Chinese students to think or behave the same as Australian students.”

She concluded: “I sincerely advise Australian universities to pay more attention to their quality of education and stop treating Chinese students as a cash machine.”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/chinese-embassy-says-foreign-interference-laws-undermine-trust/news-story/ab4c99f69ef60f01b569d380ba1fc2d4