Bias and hostility Chinese embassy lodges complaint about Liberal senator
The Chinese embassy in Canberra has lodged an official complaint with the Australian Parliament about a speech by Liberal senator James Paterson in which he accused Beijing of trying to divide democratic states.
Chinaâs embassy said Senator Paterson, who is head of Parliamentâs intelligence and security committee, had displayed âbias and hostilityâ against its country which would impede exchanges between Canberra and Beijing.
Chinaâs embassy in Canberra says Senator James Paterson is spreading false and misleading information about its country.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
In a speech to the European Parliament last week, Senator Paterson urged nations to work together with like-minded democratic governments to counter foreign interference from countries such as China.
Chinaâs embassy in Australia said the speech spread âfalse information about so-called security threat of Chinaâs influence in Australiaâ.
Senator Paterson has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese Communist Party, and was one of the founding members of the bipartisan group of MPs known as the Wolverines which was formed to speak up more about Chinaâs growing assertiveness in the region.
He was also one of the first Liberal MPs to oppose the then-Turnbull governmentâs proposed extradition treaty with Beijing in 2017, which led to its demise.
The European Parliament is considering following Australiaâs lead in legislating tougher measures to counter foreign interference and covert forms of foreign influence. It has named Australiaâs Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme as a potential model to follow.
In the keynote speech delivered virtually last week to European parliamentarians, Senator Paterson said foreign interference âcomes from many different sources and it so critically important that as democracies we recognise the threats and that we do everything we can to combat these threatsâ.
He also trumpeted Australiaâs new foreign veto laws allowing the foreign affairs minister to cancel agreements that states, territories, local governments and universities enter into with an overseas government if they contradict Australiaâs national interest.
âThis is aimed at counteracting a strategy by authoritarian states, most notably China with its Belt and Road deal, to seek to divide us internally between different levels of government,â he said.
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Anthony Galloway is foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.
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