Australia is dealing with a ‘much more aggressive China’

While Australia is happy to collaborate and trade with China, the government is not going to be “told what to do” by the communist superpower, and accept political interference according to former foreign minister Alexander Downer.

Mr Downer said amid rising tensions between the two countries over a proposal for an international COVID-19 inquiry and recent trade disputes, Australia must make it “perfectly clear where we stand”.

“We don’t want to isolate China,” he said.

"But on the other hand we're not going to be told what to do by China, and we're not going to be told how to run our political system".

Senior Labor members have recently hit out against government backbenchers over their tough language against China.

Mr Downer said though, “the government in Beijing is not going to be too fussed about what individual backbenchers may say”.

He told Sky News host Sharri Markson past governments did the right thing when dealing with China because Beijing was not behaving in such an aggressive fashion as it seem to be doing now.

“What has happened since is nothing to do with Australia, and everything to do with Beijing”.

“This is a much more aggressive government than the government of China that we had to deal with”.

Image: AP

Видео Australia is dealing with a ‘much more aggressive China’ канала Sky News Australia