Beijing could use China policy debates to portray Australia as 'intolerant' country, DFAT official warns - ABC News

Australia's top foreign affairs official has warned Beijing will seize on rancorous debates over foreign policy on China to portray Australia as an "intolerant" country.

Key points:

• The DFAT secretary says debates about China could be used by Beijing to tar Australia's image
• She says the Chinese Government is using state media to project an "intolerant" Australia
• It comes in the wake of a series of controversies in Canberra over race and foreign policy

The secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Frances Adamson, made the comment in the wake of a series of controversies in Canberra over race and foreign policy.

Earlier this month, three Chinese Australians accused Liberal senator Eric Abetz of McCarthyism after he asked them to condemn the Chinese Communist Party during a committee hearing.

Labor has been ratcheting up its attack on Senator Abetz over the episode, accusing him of subjecting the witnesses to a "loyalty test".

It has also accused some Coalition parliamentarians — including maverick Queensland MP George Christensen — of inflaming racism in the community by launching public campaigns against the Chinese Government.

Ms Adamson did not refer directly to any members of Parliament, but she said "robust" debates about China in Australia could easily be used by Beijing to tar Australia's image.

Ms Adamson says the Chinese Government was using state media to project negative images of Australia.(ABC News: Matt Roberts)

"What, to be very frank, I think Beijing is looking for, is division. Where they are able to show division," Ms Adamson told a Senate Estimates committee.

"We just need to be conscious … of the way we project ourselves."

Ms Adamson said the Chinese Government was "regrettably" using state media and its propaganda apparatus to project an "image of Australia which is intolerant and divided and which discriminates against various groups".

"That is not the way we want to be or the way we want to be portrayed," she said.

Senator Abetz again defended his conduct at the committee, maintaining that he was not questioning the witnesses based on their race, and accusing Labor of cynically misrepresenting the exchange.

The secretary also seemed to warn that the Chinese Government could leap on any displays of intolerance to make a claim on the loyalty of Chinese Australians.

"The reality is no matter what their nationality, China sees people of Chinese origin as ultimately being Chinese," she said.

"They have certain expectations of them which are not necessarily shared at all or felt at all by Chinese Australians or people who live here."

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2020-10-29 07:27:00Z
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