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China-Australia relations: state media blast ‘disingenuous’ comments from PM Scott Morrison
- China Daily says Beijing never shut the door on dialogue with Australia, but it must ‘reflect upon and redress’ its wrongdoing first
- Editorial follows an address by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in which he reiterated Australia remained committed to engaging with China
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Chinese state media on Wednesday lashed out at the latest call from Australia to reset fractured diplomatic ties, saying “it will take more than a verbal olive branch to repair” the relationship.
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The editorial in China Daily also said China has never closed the door on dialogue with Australia, but added that the tactic of calling for China to “change its ways, rather than reflecting upon and redressing their own wrongs, will simply not work”.
Relations between Australia and its largest trading partner have become increasingly strained over the past year, with Beijing imposing a series of trade actions on Australian barley, beef, wine, coal and cotton after Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus.
The Australian government has said it is ready to improve dialogue with Beijing, but China has knocked back efforts to talk, saying last year that Australia needs to “take concrete actions to correct their mistakes”.
In November, China released a list of 14 grievances – including Canberra’s rejection of Chinese investments and “antagonistic” reporting by Australian media – saying these had helped “poison bilateral relations”.
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