The U.S. ambassador to Australia has criticised the Chinese embassy in Canberra for deliberately “leaking” a dossier of grievances against the federal government to the mainstream media.
“I'll be a little bit undiplomatic,” Ambassador Arthur Culvahouse Jr. told reporters on Wednesday. ”You would never see a United States embassy hand such a list to a reporter in Australia.”
“That list reflects instances of the government of Australia standing up for its own interest and furthering the national interest of Australia,” he said.
Culvahouse Jr. thinks those kinds of concerns should be handled government to government and said it was “not the way to do diplomacy.”
“That sort of interference I don’t think you would see the United States engage in,” he said.
The list of grievances included: government funding for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, raids on Chinese journalists, academic visa cancellations, and Australia’s participation in multilateral forums on China’s affairs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang—which the regime claimed that Australia was “spearheading.”
The Epoch Times has not seen the leaked document.
Australia has taken a tougher stance on Beijing’s influence and infiltration activities in the country in recent years, pushing a range of initiatives including government inquiries, new legislation, and a sharpened foreign policy to protect the nation’s interests in the Indo-Pacific.
“Now, if that is the source of tensions between Australia and China well, I can assure you Australia will continue to be ourselves,” he said.
In recent weeks, Beijing has expanded its trade dispute with Australia to include export industries such as beef, barley, coal, wine, cotton, and timber.
