Australia to pass foreign interference bill amid tensions with China

By Colin Packham

 

FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks at a news conference after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts/File Photo

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia is expected to pass new legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing interference by foreign governments, a move likely to further stoke tensions with major trading partner China.

 

Mirroring similar laws in the United States, Australia's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme requires lobbyists working for foreign countries to register as foreign agents, who could also face criminal prosecution if they are deemed to be meddling in Canberra's affairs.

 

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year referred to "disturbing reports about Chinese influence" as justification for the bill, which has strained diplomatic and trade ties with China.

 

China has denied allegations of meddling in Australian affairs and launched a rare diplomatic protest.

 

"It will come down to whether China is cited when the legislation passes. China will not want to again be singled out," said James Laurenceson, deputy director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.

 

Ahead of the legislation's expected passage, Chinese telecom firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd mounted a lobbying campaign to secure its participation in a 5G telecommunications roll-out and to allay Australian fears that the company poses a security risk.

 

The foreign interference legislation was approved by Australia's House of Representatives on Tuesday.

 

It is expected to pass in the Senate where the main opposition Labor Party has said it will support the legislation after several revisions in recent months.

 

Another law banning foreign political donations has yet to be introduced in the lower house.

 

Turnbull acknowledged in April that relations with China, which included two-way trade of A$170 billion ($125.60 billion) last year, had soured because of the legislation.

 

Six Australian wines, including the world's biggest-listed winemaker Treasury Wine Estates Ltd, and Pernod Ricard, have faced delays in getting products through Chinese customs.

 

Despite Australian efforts to ease the curbs, wine continues to struggle to penetrate the industry's most lucrative market, expected to be worth more than A$1 billion this year.

 

Australian cattle graziers and citrus growers also fear they are being sidelined by China as a result of the row.

 

($1 = 1.3535 Australian dollars)

 

(Reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-27

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. 

Ridiculous .

Yanks have open slather in terms of intelligence in oz, uk, eu and most of south america and mid east. 

I'd trust china before yanks, especually trumps america (Mob Inc)

Beijing Is Silencing Chinese-Australians

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/opinion/beijing-chinese-australians-censorship.html

9 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Beijing Is Silencing Chinese-Australians

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/opinion/beijing-chinese-australians-censorship.html

 

Of course they are, and if they could silence the non Chinese Australians they'd do that too.

7 hours ago, car720 said:

Morons.

Why does the Australian government always follow the yanks?

My wife is Chinese.  Should I now register as a foreign agent?

If only they knew just how insignificant Australia is in the eyes of the Chinese.

Registering for assistance putting a logical argument together might be worth doing.

If the Chinese are not medaling in Australian affairs they have nothing to worry or be upset about. 

21 minutes ago, car720 said:

Ok Wan.

I think that with a little push I may be capable of a logical argument but usually this requires a topic to debate.  In this instance my comment was more of a generalization.  Bandying words with me may be interesting and possibly even constructive but unfortunately I don't think this is the right forum for that.

 

I can't imagine that bandying words with you would be either interesting or  constructive given your production to date.

16 hours ago, car720 said:

Morons.

Why does the Australian government always follow the yanks?

My wife is Chinese.  Should I now register as a foreign agent?

If only they knew just how insignificant Australia is in the eyes of the Chinese.

Absolute rubbish.

Economics , tourism ,educational and cultural exchange  increases every year between those two countries.

Most of their airlines fly to Australia and more coming.

Australia and China will eventually become much closer partners than we are with the USA which has become a  war mongering , free trade farce.

21 hours ago, car720 said:

Morons.

Why does the Australian government always follow the yanks?

My wife is Chinese.  Should I now register as a foreign agent?

If only they knew just how insignificant Australia is in the eyes of the Chinese.

 

From the OP:

 

Quote

lobbyists working for foreign countries to register as foreign agents

 

So if neither of you is one, no issues.

 

Maybe this trend got something to do with China's practices. And, of course, if Australia was so insignificant in the eyes of the Chinese, there wouldn't have been much objections from the China over this.

5 minutes ago, car720 said:

Have you noticed how most people in the world will object if you call them names.

 

Have you noticed no one was calling anyone "names"?

2 hours ago, car720 said:

Of course they were.  They directly accused China of influencing  internal policy.

 

Accusing China of "influencing internal policy" is not "calling names".

On 6/29/2018 at 11:05 AM, car720 said:

Have you noticed how most people in the world will object if you call them names.

Particularly the nutters. ?