Australia Criticizes Xi Jinping For Disingenuous ‘Bully’ Remarks
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg chastised Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for speaking out against "bully" behavior while trying to strong-arm Australia into unfair trade agreements.
"Strong nations should not bully the weak," Xi said at a virtual event organized by the World Economic Forum on Monday.
The Chinese leader took a veiled swipe at the U.S. and its allies, including Australia, when he decried "supply disruption or sanctions" in his Monday speech. "To create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation," he said.
"There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the words and the actions," Frydenberg said on Wednesday. "The reality is Australia has been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh actions when it comes to trade, but we won't compromise [our] national interests."
Relations between the countries turned frosty last year, after Australia called for an investigation into the initial Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and barred Huawei from involvement in the country's 5G network.
In return, China has raised import levies on a dozen Australian sectors, including the lucrative barley and wine industries - with exporters set to lose up to $4 billion in sales.
The Chinese government issued a list of 14 grievances in November including "incessant wanton interference in China's Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs," as well as "foreign interference legislation."
But Frydenberg this week reaffirmed Australia's stance on the matters as "non-negotiable".
"A politician elected democratically into the Parliament should have the right to speak as they see fit," the treasurer said. "And of course, on human rights, we'll continue to speak out where there are injustices as we've done in the past."
Australian lawmakers raised concerns about allegations of slave labor in Xinjiang factories employing members of the Uyghur ethnic minority group in the fall, adding to calls over the summer to investigate suppression in China's western-most province.
In turn, state media painted Australia as an American lackey; one Global Times article called the nation "a close collaborator of the U.S. in its anti-China strategy."