From The Australian:
In a statement to The Australian, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Canberra said his country was surprised and disappointed with “some US senior official’s comments on China” and that such “unfounded allegations” were echoed through the media.
“We noted that some people always love to give lectures like a preacher about the domestic politics, rules and laws, and foreign policies of other countries,” the Chinese spokesman said.
“We would like to reiterate that the Chinese government has always opposed any country’s interference in the internal affairs of other countries. The Chinese side has never and will not use money to influence other countries’ internal affairs.”
…The Chinese embassy spokesman said China’s position on the South China Sea and cyber-security were clear and consistent. “The allegations are wholly unfounded, politically motivated, and not in accordance with the facts,” the spokesman said. “It does no help to solve relevant issues.”
“The world is facing economic, security and many other realistic challenges. In this situation, every country should say more conducive words to enhance mutual trust, make more contributions to increase mutual benefits, and take various advantages to work together in order to find more solutions, but not make more troubles and differences.”
Privately, government MPs told The Australian they thought Mr Berry had made an “extraordinary intervention”, leaving the nation in no doubt about America’s concerns over China’s financial influence in domestic politics.
Banning foreign donations is step one in managing our great power relationships.
Step two is to release a new white paper on Chinese engagement that declares Australia China’s loyal partner in developing its economy and will provide free access to raw materials (including agriculture) but will not allow access to strategic assets in the national interest. It should also reconfirm Australia’s commitment to rules based diplomacy and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Step three is to properly enforce foreign buying of real estate rules and to lower the immigration intake to historic norms while applying the Productivity Commission’s new recommendations on visas to ensure Chinese moral suasion over domestic wealth does not increase further.
Those three steps set up a manageable pathway between our two Great and Powerful friends.
Get on with it Do-nothing Malcolm and, while you’re at it, force Brian Wilson at FIRB to resign from the Carlyle Group.
