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China on Wednesday lodged a formal diplomatic protest against a senior Australian minister who had described Beijing’s infrastructure projects in the Pacific as “white elephants” while criticizing Chinese aid programs as hostile to the poor island nations.
In an interview with The Australian newspaper on Wednesday, Australia's Minister of International Development Concetta Fierravanti-Wells lashed out at China’s infrastructure projects, accusing the Asian country of providing loans to Pacific nations on unfavorable terms and constructing "useless buildings" and "roads to nowhere" in the region.
“You’ve got the Pacific full of these useless buildings which nobody maintains, which are basically white elephants,” Fierravanti-Wells said, adding: “We just don’t want to build a road that doesn’t go anywhere. We want to ensure that the infrastructure that you do build is actually productive and is actually going to give some economic benefit or some sort of health benefit.”
Lu Kang, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, speaks at the press briefing in Bejing on January 10, 2018.
China dismissed what she said as “irresponsible” while lodging a formal protest.
"The irresponsible remarks made by the official are full of prejudice and bias in disregard of facts and we have lodged stern representations with the Australian government," China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Wednesday.
He said China’s infrastructure building in the Pacific has brought tangible benefits to these countries. “China has provided much assistance to the Pacific island states for long time on the basis of full respect for the willingness of their people and governments and taking the development needs of the Pacific island states into full consideration,” according to Lu.
“The fact is the assistance provided by China has greatly promoted the development of these countries, brought tangible benefits to the people of these countries, and received a warm welcome from the governments and people of these countries. I believe the governments and people of these countries have the biggest say on the issue of China's assistance to their countries,” he added.
Default policy: Blame it on China
Australia's Minister of International Development, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (left), arrives for the opening of the 48th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Apia, Samoa on September 5, 2017.
China’s Xinhua news agency, in an opinion piece, slammed the Australian minister for her “lack of knowledge about the local situation”.
“The article [in The Australian], like many of its kind that appeared in Australian media last year, is rich in allegations and speculations and short on hard evidence,” it said.
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’ complaints about the use of the buildings and the directions of the roads demonstrated her lack of knowledge about the local situation, according to Xinhua. As a reader commented on the article online, the Australian government's “default policy” for all issues is to blame China.
Australia has been investing heavily across the Pacific region, but as the result of huge deficits in its recent budgets, foreign aid was among the first things to get slashed. “Fierravanti-Wells is a more suitable spokesperson for this issue than on Chinese loans to South Pacific nations,” the Xinhua opinion piece said.
From left: Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo and Secretary of
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Frances Adamson arrive for the official launch of the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper at the DFAT in Canberra, Australia, on November 23, 2017.
China and Australia engaged in a war of words last year. In a recent online survey of Chinese netizens by Chinese news portal Huanqiu.com, Australia won the title of "Least friendly country to China in 2017".
Last month, China also slammed Australia over language used in a foreign policy white paper that expressed concern about Beijing’s rise as the dominant power in Asia-Pacific amid waning US influence.
The policy paper called for continued US leadership role in the region, clearly reflecting Australia’s anxiety over China’s growing stature despite Beijing’s emergence as Canberra’s largest trading partner in recent years.
Also last year, Chinese students in Australia complained about university course materials and Western teaching methods and ideas which they considered to be “incorrect” or “insulting” to their homeland.
(CGTN)
