China-Australia relations: PM Scott Morrison responds to Beijing’s list of 14 grievances

Beijing complained about Canberra’s involvement in domestic affairs like Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, spy accusations, and its coronavirus inquiry call

But Morrison said Australia acted in its own interests and would not compromise its values or policies on issues like investment, 5G and interference

Reading Time:3 minutes

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia ‘will continue to be ourselves’, even if that is a source of tensions with China. Photo: DPA

Published: 11:46am, 19 Nov 2020Updated: 9:40pm, 19 Nov 2020

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would not compromise Australia’s national security and sovereignty, as Beijing ramped up its criticism of his government and warned it against making China an enemy.

“Australia will always be ourselves,” Morrison said in a television interview with the Nine Network on Thursday. “We will always set our own laws and our own rules according to our national interests – not at the behest of any other nation, whether that’s the US or China or anyone else.”

A Chinese diplomat in Canberra gave a document to Australian media outlets outlining 14 grievances and accusing the nation of “poisoning bilateral relations”, largely echoing complaints aired by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing in recent days that Australia needs to “take concrete actions to correct their mistakes”. A Chinese government official said in a briefing with a reporter that the country was angry, and would become an enemy if it was made the enemy, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Morrison said he had seen the “unofficial document that’s come out of the Chinese embassy”. He added that Australia’s values, democracy and sovereignty “are not up for trade”. His government has labelled Chinese trade reprisals launched this year as “economic coercion”.

“We won’t be compromising on the fact that we’ll set what our foreign investment laws are, or how we build our 5G telecommunications networks, or how we run our systems to protect that are protecting against any interference,” Morrison said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x