CHINA USES OUR PM BAINIMARAMA’S LANGUAGE
TO HIT BACK AT AUSTRALIA OVER POSITION IN CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS IN TUVALU
It says Australian PM Scott Morrison’s comments were “insulting and condescending”. It says it is not competing with Australia and adds that Australia has to look at how it engages Pacific Islands Forum members However, relations between Australia and its regional neighbours took another hit last Friday when Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was captured on tape saying island nations affected by climate change would continue to survive by picking Australian fruit.
Beijing has used Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s language in criticising Australia for its climate change position in Tuvalu.
It endorsed Mr Bainimarama’s statement, according to an ABC report. The endorsement shows how China takes Fiji seriously and values its contribution in the region. Mr Bainimarama accused Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison of being “insulting and condescending” at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu.
The ABC report said in response to Mr Bainimarama’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters “it wasn’t the first time that leaders of Pacific
island countries resented Australia’s behaviour.
“Australia might as well reflect upon itself,” Mr Geng said during a regular press briefing.
He suggested Australia needed to look at how it engaged its Pacific neighbours.
After hours of negotiations, Pacific leaders failed to reach agreement on climate change action, and instead issued a watered-down communique. Australia had refused to endorse statements calling for a ban on new coal mines and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Pacific leaders disappointed
The discussions on climate change reduced the Tongan Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva to tears while other Pacific leaders also expressed their disappointment.
Mr Bainimarama told The Guardian that when Mr Morrison was “[backed] into a corner by the leaders” at the forum, he started talking about how much money Australia had been giving to the Pacific — a move Mr Bainimarama described as “very insulting, very condescending.” Mr Geng said China had long been providing assistance to island countries with no political strings attached.
“Just as Prime Minister Bainimarama said on the same occasion, China doesn’t insult island countries and go down and tell the world that we’ve given this much money to the Pacific islands.
“With sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith on one side and a condescending master on the other, it is easy to see the stark contrast. “The people of island countries, who are in the best position to judge, are fully aware of the difference.” Relations between Australia and its regional neighbours took another hit last Friday when Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was captured on tape saying island nations affected by climate change would continue to survive by picking Australian fruit.
In response, Mr Bainimarama accused the Australian Government of taking a “big step backwards” in its relations with the Pacific.
Anote Tong, who from 2003 to 2016 served as president of Kiribati — a at risk Pacific nation north-east of Fiji — told RN Breakfast that Pacific nations may view Australia as the “worst of two evils” when compared to China.
The so-called ‘China threat’
However, Mr Geng reiterated Mr Bainimarama’s comment that China was not competing with Australia in the region.
“For a while, some in Australia have been spreading the China threat fallacy among island countries,” he said. “They see China as a challenger to Australia’s influence in the region. “We note that Fiji’s Prime Minister said that China is not competing with Australia in the region. “Samoa’s Prime Minister also said that Pacific island leaders do not share Australia’s concerns about China’s rising influence in the region. These are fair-minded judgments.”
Mr Geng added that Beijing would continue to work with Pacific countries under the framework of “SouthSouth Co-operation” — which, according to the UN, refers to the collaboration between developing countries in sharing knowledge, skills and successful initiatives in specific areas.
“We also hope other countries, including Australia, will proceed from the needs of island countries and take more concrete actions to help them grow the economy and improve people’s lives with sincerity, instead of the obsolete Cold-War mentality and zero-sum game mindset,” he said