With the Australian general election approaching, on February 16, local time, Mike Burgess, director of the Australian spy agency Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO), warned in a "rare" TELEVISION interview that Australian politicians should not politicize national security matters. Australian media ABC also said that it was "more rare" for Burgess to refute such practices by Australian politicians twice within 48 hours.
On the evening of the 16th, Burgess said in an interview that ASIO did not intervene in the country's political struggles, but politicians politicized the agency's investigation into so-called "foreign interference" and "did not help us." He also claimed: "Foreign interference is directed against all members of Parliament, not against a particular political party or another." ”
Burgess's remarks were supported by his predecessor, Dennis Richardson. Richardson claimed in a television interview on the 17th that the current election strategy of the Morrison administration will only "conform to China's interests" and that there is no difference between the Australian ruling party and the Labor Party in their China policies.
Richardson claimed: "There is no difference in practice, but in the service of party politics purposes, there is an attempt to create a sense of difference." The Australian government is doing something like this I haven't seen in decades, and it's not in the national interest. It actually serves only one country's interests, and that is China. ”
In his annual "threat assessment", Burgess claimed last week that a foreign attempt to interfere in the Australian general election had been "thwarted" by ASIO, but he did not specify the names of the foreign governments or political parties involved, according to previous reports. However, this news has been used by the Ruling Party and the Labour Party of Australia for several days.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Defence Darden. Image source: Australian media
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton claimed on the 10th that China has chosen to support Labor Leader Albanes in the general election, but was denied and reprimanded by the latter. On the evening of the 14th, Labour MP Kimberly Kitchin continued to hype up this topic, she slandered a Chinese Citizen of Australia as the mysterious "manipulator" behind the foiled foreign election conspiracy, and she used parliamentary privilege to name him and question Burgess. However, Burgess vowed to preserve ASIO independence and refused to discuss the matter publicly. He replied: "As I've said before, I wouldn't comment on the speculation about who is the target or who isn't, and it's unfair for you to ask me this question in public. I value our reputation very much, and ASIO is not politicized here and should not be politicized. ”
Australian media ABC said that however, Burgess's words were not listened to by anyone. In the early morning of the 15th, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to attack the Labour Party along Dutton's route. He claimed that some countries in Australia were trying to "threaten and coerce" "one-way bets on Albanes" and that the leader of the opposition Labour Party was "weak" to China and wanted to "please" China. On the 16th, Morrison accused the Chinese government of having "chosen a horse" in the interrogation session of the Australian parliament, that is, Labor Leader Anthony Albanis. He also claimed that Labour's deputy leader, Richard Masler, was a "Manchurian candidate" chosen by China. After being reprimanded by Labour MPs, he was forced to withdraw the remarks.
In response to Morrison's attack on Labor, Labor MP Julian Hill also pulled china in a tweet rebuttal, writing: "Morrison is now serving Beijing, desperately trying to politicize national security, spread lies, and create divisions for his own political ends." ”
It is worth noting that this farce in the Australian political arena, whether it is the Australian media or politicians, is full of accusations, but there is no real evidence.
Australian Labour Party leader Albanes. Image source: Australian media
In response to the Australian election before the Australian election, Australian ruling coalition MPs and opposition MPs repeatedly hyped up China-related issues in order to attack each other and win eyeballs, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs Academy, said in an interview with a Global Network reporter on the 11th that in fact, during the period when the Morrison administration was in power, in terms of China policy, it has been following behind the US ass, focusing on a series of operations such as containing confrontation, which has led to Australia's own trade with China and the overall trade with the Asia-Pacific region, as well as its overall diplomatic practice is not only lackluster. And it often has serious self-harm consequences, which the Australian people should say to see clearly. Therefore, in the election, the Morrison administration and some unfriendly forces in the United States and Australian society have tried to manipulate the China issue and blame the Australian government for its internal failure to govern the Chinese side.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on February 11: "I would like to reiterate that China has always adhered to developing relations with other countries on the basis of the principles of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. For Australia's internal affairs, china has no interest and has never intervened. We urge individual Australian politicians and institutions not to talk about China.