Howard deflects Chinese criticism

Former prime minister John Howard has defended Australian media and political debate from Chinese criticism.

John Howard meeting senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi who is a Poliburo member and the director of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party, in Beijing.

John Howard defended Aus­tralian media and political debate from Chinese criticism at a high-level dialogue in Beijing last week, in a meeting described as reflecting a warmer relationship with China.

The Australian understands the mood was positive, despite some concerns raised by the Chinese side over Australian official and media commentary and rhetoric about China.

Chinese state media and senior diplomats have publicly lashed Australian media for reporting on Chinese government interference in Australia. Beijing’s officials have also argued Australian media reports too many “negative” stories about China.

In response, a source said the former prime minister told Chinese officials Australia had an independent judiciary and parlia­ment as well as a free media, which was not going to change, and ­accepting this was part of having “mutual understanding” between the two countries.

Despite speculation the meeting would be dominated by the Australian decision to block Huawei from Australian 5G networks, those present insisted the topic was only touched upon.

The recent arrest of the company’s CFO in Canada has come as Five Eyes countries reconsider whether to allow Huawei to provide equipment to their 5G telecommunications rollouts.

The meeting between Australian and Chinese elites led by former prime minister Mr Howard is an annual diplomatic tool to strengthen ties with the communist nation — this year, it almost did not happen.

While diplomats had been trying to get the dialogue off the ground after the bilateral tiff between the two countries to no avail, suddenly in the heat of the US trade war in October Beijing decided perhaps it did not need any more enemies.

“This was not on the cards a few months ago, it was out of the blue,” a source told The Australian.

The session where the foreign interference laws were mentioned were the most contentious, ­sources said. Chinese participants — mainly officials and businessmen — said one of their concerns about the foreign interference debate was how Chinese nationals studying in Australia were being accused of being spies.

One Chinese participant characterised Australia’s decision to block Hong Kong company CKI from taking over gas pipeline giant APA as due to national sec­urity concerns, which Canberra has insisted is not the case

Scott Morrison has previously said the CKI decision was about the “concentration and aggregation” of the asset if it was bought by a single owner, and said “it wasn’t about the nationality at all”.

Another Chinese participant said Australia could be similar to Singapore in being a bridge between the US and China.