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Each week China Matters collates news items about the -China relationship

Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

1. Australia-China relations: Business banks on lasting thaw

09/11/18 Michael Smith Financial Review

It was the week the world came to China.

Belarusian folk dancers and Brazilian drummers competed for attention with Australian didgeridoo players. Elderly ladies from Costa Rica lugging cases of coffee and New Zealanders with crates of kiwifruit were among those who queued for hours to clear China's security checks and enter the vast wheel-shaped complex the outskirts of Shanghai.

President 's inaugural import-themed trade fair attracted 3600 companies from 150 countries. The United States, which is embroiled in a trade war with China, did not turn up, but Australia was there in force.

Read more (Paywall): https://bit.ly/2zNRFXZ

2. The Belt and Road in Victoria: No Big Deal

10/11/18 Jacinta Keast The Diplomat

This article is written by a Research Assistant at China Matters, Jacinta Keast.

The Victoria state government’s decision to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China on the has alarmed some. However, signing an MoU is no big deal. It should be viewed as a natural extension of Victoria’s strong trading relationship with China and not a fundamental change in policy. This is primarily because, despite Australia not officially “signing on” to the initiative, Chinese firms are already participating in numerous Belt and Road projects in Australia.

The Australian media has framed the country’s participation in the Belt and Road markedly different from Chinese sources. Chinese companies, provincial governments, and media routinely list any kind of outbound foreign investment by a

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

state-owned enterprise or Chinese private company as a BRI project, even if the host country is not yet a BRI country. From this point of view, Australia is already participating in the BRI.

Read more (Paywall): https://thediplomat.com/2018/11/the-belt-and-road-in-victoria- no-big-deal/

3. Australia's own Pacific debt diplomacy

11/11/18 Jonathan Pryke and Matthew Dorman The Australian Financial Review

Last week, Prime Minister made one of the most significant Australian policy announcements on the Pacific region in recent history.

Striking a tone intended to score points at home and in the region, Mr Morrison called on Australia to "open a new chapter… in relations with our Pacific family. One based on respect, equality and openness." He committed to five new diplomatic missions, enhanced defence cooperation, getting Australian broadcasters into the region, $1 billion to support Australian businesses in the region, and $2 billion for a new concessional finance facility for infrastructure in the Pacific. If that reads like a lot, that's because it is.

It is no secret why Mr Morrison is making these commitments. China has been building its diplomatic, development and economic links with the Pacific since 2006. China maintains diplomatic relations with eight Pacific countries; another six recognise Taiwan. China is an increasingly significant trade partner for all Pacific countries. It is the third largest donor, contributing 8 per cent of aid spending between 2011 and 2016 (Australia gave 45 per cent). State enterprises, entering with the support of Chinese loans, are now engaged in commercial activity across the board. A new Chinese diaspora is also actively engaged in the region's economies.

Read more (Paywall): https://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/australias-own-pacific- debt-diplomacy-20181111-h17rfk

4. Reset in ties between China and Australia will benefit both sides

10/11/18 SCMP Editorial South China Morning Post

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

China and Australia have much to benefit from ensuring smooth relations. The chance to thaw frosty ties has come with Australian foreign minister ’s visit to Beijing, the first by a top official from the nation in more than six months. There are thorny issues to be overcome and ’s suspicions and mistrust about Chinese intentions will take time to resolve. Communication and cooperation are the right approach to bringing about a much-needed reset.

A change of Australian leadership has brought about the fresh mindset. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tempered the anti-Beijing rhetoric of his predecessor, , with an acknowledgement of the importance of good economic relations. Payne echoed the sentiment in talks with State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying that Australia welcomed Chinese investment. Wang said China’s development was an opportunity, not a threat.

Read more: https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight- opinion/asia/article/2172639/reset-ties-between-china-and-australia-will- benefit#add-comment

5. Beijing's secret plot to infiltrate UN used Australian insider

11/11/18 Nick McKenzie, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Zach Dorfman and Fergus Hunter The Morning Herald

Earlier this year, a petite 62-year-old woman dubbed the ‘‘queen of the Australian- China social scene’’ walked out of a US federal prison.

Charming and gregarious, Sheri Yan was once known for hosting soirees around the world where diplomats mingled with millionaire business executives and socialites. But her life changed forever in October 2015, when she was arrested by FBI agents in New York and accused of bribing the former president of the General Assembly, John Ashe.

According to 10 serving and former Australian and US national security officials, the Chinese government was conducting a clandestine foreign interference operation targeting the most prominent symbol of the global rules-based order: the UN. This bold operation used UN-approved non-government organisations (NGOs) with apparently charitable intentions as fronts for channelling illicit payments to UN diplomats – via a network of middlemen, millionaires and suspected spies. Yan was a key player, say some of these sources.

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/beijing-s-secret-plot-to-infiltrate-un- used-australian-insider-20181031-p50d2e.html

6. From student to drone swarms: how the Chinese Communist Party trains its cadres in Australia

10/11/18 Alex Joske The Sydney Morning Herald

In 2009, a student called Wang Xiangke came to the Australian National University as a visiting PhD scholar. It was a year after the Olympic torch relay passed through Canberra, attracting thousands of Chinese students who organised with the Chinese embassy to protect the so-called sacred flame.

That torch relay raised the same questions about the Chinese Communist Party’s overseas influence that have now developed into a national debate. I was there as a child and clearly remember the burning flags and scuffles between Chinese students and Free Tibet protesters.

But Wang Xiangke was no ordinary international student from China, one of the thousands of aspiring scholars rightly embraced by Australia’s tertiary education sector. Instead, Wang was sent here by the People’s Liberation Army’s National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) as part of its program to use global academic expertise to achieve military ends.

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/from-student-to-drone-swarms- how-the-chinese-communist-party-trains-its-cadres-in-australia-20181108- p50evg.html

7. We could work with China in the region: Scott Morrison

12/11/18 Phillip Coorey The Australian Financial Review

Australia would be willing to co-fund infrastructure projects with China, using its newly announced $2 billion package as leverage, if it helped with regional stability, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review before his departure to Singapore for the , Mr Morrison said Australia should not feel the need to choose

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

between competing regional giants, the United States and China but, as did, seek to elevate both relationships in parallel.

"The more stable the region is, the more prosperous the region is," he said.

Asked if that meant partnering in one-off projects as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Mr Morrison concurred, although he would not use the name the Chinese have given to their global infrastructure initiative.

Read more (Paywall): https://www.afr.com/news/we-could-work-with-china-in-the- region-scott-morrison-20181111-h17s3q

8. Signalling a whole-of-Australia approach to China

13/11/18 Andrew Forrest The Interpreter

One of the most challenging aspects of Australia’s bilateral relationship with China is finding new ways to signal our interest in the big issues that are shaping the future of the region – a task almost as difficult as deciding amongst ourselves what those issues are.

The signalling of Australia’s interests can take many forms and serve multiple functions. The government of Victoria’s recent decision to sign a memorandum of understanding with Beijing on the controversial Belt and Road Initiative showed that these signals are not always dictated and delivered by Canberra.

Australia’s policy signalling to China will become more important and complex in an increasingly contested Asia.

Read more: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/signalling-whole-australia- approach-china

9. 'You've got to push back against China': CKI rejection the right thing: expert

13/11/18 Cole Latimer The Sydney Morning Herald

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

A China expert says Australia has to "push back against China" as Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted the decision to knock back Hong Kong-based CKI's bid for the country's major gas pipelines was not aimed at stopping Chinese Communist Party control.

In June, CKI made a $13 billion offer for APA. The government rejected the deal last week on the grounds it would have given a single foreign company monopoly control of most of the country's pipelines.

CKI's bid for APA would hand control over the majority of Australia's gas pipelines to the Hong Kong utility company.

Despite the preliminary rejection by Treasurer , the government gave CKI two weeks to reapply with a renewed proposal.

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/you-ve-got-to-push-back- against-china-cki-rejection-the-right-thing-expert-20181112-p50fjf.html

10. Former PM John Howard to represent Australia in China

13/11/18 Primrose Riordan The Australian

Former Prime Minister John Howard will represent Australia at a high-level dialogue in China in December amid a warming of ties between the two countries.

The announcement from Foreign Minister Marise Payne comes after her recent visit to Beijing and Trade Minister ’s visit to Shanghai, which broke a long period between official visits to the communist nation.

The two governments were involved in a major diplomatic spat which started in earnest last year when Australia introduced new foreign interference laws while they were campaigning to win the Bennelong by-election.

Senator Payne said China would be the host of the dialogue and a wide range of Australians would attend.

Read more (Paywall): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign- affairs/former-pm-john-howard-to-represent-australia-in-china/news- story/ec25445920cb19c393106f42651229f0

11. Inpex chief Takayuki Ueda warns on China role at Darwin port

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

16/11/18 Amos Aikman and Perry Williams The Australian

The energy producer that bankrolled Japan’s biggest single Australian investment is closely monitoring Chinese investment in the Northern Territory and has warned any failure to maintain standards of “democracy, openness and transparency” may deter companies from committing further spending in the Top End.

While Inpex’s $54 billion Ichthys LNG project was under construction in Darwin Harbour, the Northern Territory government controversially leased the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company with reported ties to the Chinese government.

Inpex president and chief executive Takayuki Ueda, when asked if he had concerns about the deal, replied that “so long as Australia keeps its democracy, its openness, its transparency, which is very good for us to continue our business, we’ll be fine”.

Read more (paywall): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining- energy/inpex-chief-takayuki-ueda-warns-on-china-role-at-darwin-port/news- story/da3287e565e230dbce62c5b53742f5a6

12. ‘Europe is disappearing into itself’ warns Britain on China

16/11/18 Latika Bourke Sydney Morning Herald

Kevin Rudd has warned Europe that its obsession with Brexit risks leaving a vacuum in Asia, and called on the British to step up it's military engagement in the region.

Speaking to just a handful of MPs on the Commons Foreign Affairs select committee, as the multiple ministerial resignations engulfed another day of politics in Westminster, the former prime minister warned that Europe's obsession with itself was damaging its ability to respond to the changing world elsewhere.

"Europe disappearing into itself has been felt, observed and lamented across wider east Asia, " Mr Rudd said, speaking in his capacity as president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)

relationship

Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/europe-is-disappearing-into-itself- kevin-rudd-warns-britain-on-china-20181116-p50gdx.html

13. Don’t be paranoid about the rise of China: Downer

15/11/18 Luke Griffiths The Australia

Alexander Downer is warning Western countries against pursuing policies aimed at containing the rise of China because doing so will make it an “enemy”.

Australia’s longest serving foreign minister addressed an Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia conference in yesterday, where he also predicted the rise of nationalist parties at next year’s EU elections and praised US President ’s leadership.

Mr Downer said “status quo powers” such as the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, but also Australia, should allow China to forge its own future as long as it operated within international laws.

Read more (paywall): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign- affairs/dont-be-paranoid-about-the-rise-of-china-downer/news- story/5ea79bb19af05ab7ac003ceec578854d

China Matters Media Roundup Issue 97 (10/11/18 – 16/11/18)