Chris Uhlmann fires off reasons Australia doesn’t trust China as Xiao Qian speaks at press club

The Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian has shut down suggestions the communist superpower wants ‘world domination’ as he faced heated questions from journalists about the nation’s relationship with Australia.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Australia said the country supported improvements to the ‘current international order but will never seek to start a new one’.

‘In the past more than 40 years or more of reforming and opening up to the outside world, tremendous changes have happened in China. China’s comprehensive national has been significantly enhanced but Chinese philosophy, China’s firm policy, remain unchanged,’ Xiao Qian said.

Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann however, took aim at the ambassador, rattling off all the reasons why Australians don’t trust China.

‘You occupied and militarised the South China Sea in contravention of international law. Recently you threatened an Australian Air Force aircraft flying over those waters under rights under international war. You imprisoned our citizens without rights to national justice. You have launched thousands of attacks against private and public sector through cyber,’ Uhlmann said.

‘You have interfered in your politics, our universities, and our diaspora and the people you call the 1.2 million overseas Chinese, many of them we say are Australian citizens who have a right and duty to Australia.

‘Do you see why some Australians think when you talk about international law and positive policies, you do not do what you say?’

In response, Qian said in the South China Sea, China, as well as some other countries were all ‘claimants of certain areas and territories’.

‘About the sentiments of China in these areas and the militaries – it is the necessary measures we have to take to protect the security of the areas which belong to us,’ Qian said. 

Earlier this month, China declared it would conduct a massive set of war games around Taiwan beginning on August 2 and lasting until August 8.

The military drills blockaded the island from the outside world and intruded into its territorial waters, and involved ground, air and sea forces carrying out live fire exercises in what was the largest threat to Taiwan’s independence in decades.

The increased aggression from Beijing was sparked by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi – the third most senior politician in America – provocatively visiting the island on August 3.

Recently China also moved closer to securing a military base on the Solomon Islands, a country less than 2000km from Australia’s coast.

State-run media in China announced in June that the nation had expanded military operations in the region.

This news was worrisome for Australia as hostile tensions continue to increase between China and the West, with the Communist nation asserting ‘sovereignty’ and ‘jurisdiction’ over the international waters of the Taiwan Strait.

However, during his National Press Club speech on Wednesday, Xiao Qian said China continued to seek a stable and cooperative relationship with Australia.

‘No matter how China develops itself now or in the future, China will never seek hegemony or sphere of influence. The development of China-Australia relations is at a critical juncture,’ said the Chinese ambassador to Australia,’ he said.

‘China’s policy of friendship and cooperation to Australia remains unchanged. And objective and rational objective of Australia on China and a positive and pragmatic policy towards China are fundamentally significant for a long-term stable and predictable partnership between China and Australia.’