WEBVTT - When Chinese diplomats get pushy 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:08.360 You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.639 every morning to hear the latest episode. Just say play 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:23.040 the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here's what's 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:27.480 on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Wednesday, June nineteenth. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.000 Peter Dutton will today announced nuclear reactors will be Commonwealth 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.600 owned and operated as critical national infrastructure if he is 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:41.280 elected Prime Minister. And today at the Australian's Energy Nation Forum, 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:45.000 Treasurer Jim Chalmers will seek to allay fears about giant 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.440 renewable projects, saying community benefit will be at the heart 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:55.760 of the government's future Made in Australia policy. Anthony Albanezi 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.920 has scrambled to recover from a diplomatic disaster after Chinese 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.200 and Australian officials engaged in a physical encounter at Federal Parliament. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.480 It was all about the presence of a journalist China 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.480 doesn't like. In today's episode, what the scuffle was all 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:21.960 about and what now for the China relationship. Can you 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:22.440 hear this? 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.920 You must through college class bread. 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.440 This is an Australian official. A woman wearing a black 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.160 suit jacket with her hair in a bun whispering at 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.600 a Chinese diplomat in Parliament House in Canberra on Monday. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.080 The Australian says, you are standing in front of my 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.840 Australian colleague. You must move. The Chinese official, a man 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:52.640 wearing a blue suit, completely ignores the request. The Australian 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:56.840 grabs his shoulder and tries to pull him backwards. China's 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:01.200 man doesn't budge. It's like the Australian official does not exist. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.720 This is the start of a stunning piece of geopolitics 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.720 playing out in the main committee room of our Parliament House. 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.560 At the front of the room of politicians, including Australia's 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.239 Prime Minister Anthony Alberanezi and Chinese Premier Lee. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.080 Chung, there are five documents to be signed today. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.680 They're signing agreements. They're called memoranda of understanding between our 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.120 two countries. There are lots of flunkies bustling back and 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.320 forth with pens and pieces of paper. 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:36.440 The document will be signed by mister Leo Suscher, Vice 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.919 Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.120 Honorable Jim Chalmers, Treasurer. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.959 This official visit is a big deal in thawing this 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.200 relationship that has been icy cold for the past four years. 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.519 The media and officials have been seated at the back 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.079 of the room. To their left, there's a bank of 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.399 cameras you will have seen on TV news, the kind 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.520 of pan shots camera operators love. They focus on one 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.760 area then move across to another. In this case, there 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.680 was a great shot to be had Premier Lee at 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.040 the front of the room and panning to the back 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.679 of the room. One of the journalists in particular, that 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.040 journalist is Chung Lay, the Chinese born Australian citizen who 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:25.920 until last year was imprisoned in China. China claimed Chung 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.360 had broken an embargo on a news report on Chinese 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.320 TV by a few minutes, but her three years in 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.880 prison came as Australia's relationship with China went seriously sour 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:42.880 thanks to China's umbridge. At Scott Morrison's suggestion they had 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:48.800 questions to answer about the origins of COVID nineteen. Australia 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.720 applied pressure at the highest level Albanesi and Foreign Minister 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.040 Pennywong directly raising Chung's case with China, and she was 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.960 released last year. Chung Lay is now colleague of ours 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.920 working at Sky News Australia. And back to that crazy 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.720 scene in Canberra. The Chinese official, whom some media have 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.240 named as Thomas, is standing in front of miss Chung 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.200 to prevent the cameras getting that great panning shot. Chung 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.960 and Premier Lee in the same room. Another Chinese official 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.360 joins him, a woman in a brown jacket, and she 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.080 also refuses to move when asked, so Chung Lei moves 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.120 down a few seats and Thomas and the brown jacket 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.560 lady come around and try to block her again, but 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.159 the Australian diplomat and another Australian official get in their way, 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:42.760 squashing up like Sardine's, forming a kind of human shield 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:47.119 in front of Chung Lei to stop her being obstructed. Again, 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.440 the Chinese officials push the Australians trying to get past them, 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:57.279 and now it's the Australian's turn to pretend they don't exist. 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.280 I thought, no way, it can't be as bad as 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.039 it sounds from the headline. And then I watched the video, 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.720 and I mean I was laughing, to be honest, I 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:08.320 just couldn't believe what I was watching. 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.480 Will Glasgow is the Australian's North Asia correspondent. 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.160 I mean, if anything, the more you think about it 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.600 and reflect on it, it's just completely woful that happened 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.960 in Australia's Federal Parliament as the Premiere of China was 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:29.320 signing memorandums of understanding with Australia's cabinet ministers about mutual understanding, 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:34.000 mutual respect and apparently the Australia China relationship being back 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:34.520 on track. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.800 What's incredible in this interaction is that these diplomats diplomats 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.919 are pushing and pulling each other. This just does not happen, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.600 not in any normal business meeting, and definitely not in 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.240 the careful, etiquette soaked world of international diplomacy, where even 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.040 the way you hand over a business card is laden 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.160 with significance. So I asked, Will, is there a different 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.240 context which we should be looking at this? Are we 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.880 missing something from a Chinese perspective? 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.120 I wouldn't get bogged down in Chinese cultural reasons for 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.640 explaining this. This is a Chinese Communist Party cultural practice. 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.000 I'm speaking to you from Taipei. That wouldn't happen here, right, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.760 Chinese Australians culturally don't behave like that, and look, I 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.560 should be frank. I've met and spoke to those Chinese officials. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.640 When I've met with them, they're very polite people. I've 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.320 never left any of my exchangees with them thinking gosh, 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.160 how rude was that person. Far from it. I've had 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.320 the entirely opposite experience with them. But they're officials who 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.240 work for the People's Republic of China. They represented overseas. 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.039 The People's Republic of China is run by a one 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.000 party lenin Estate, the Chinese Communist Party, and their premier 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.479 was in the room, and Chung Li is someonhen they 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.680 put in prison for years. They accused her of espionage, 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.240 that's the official view in China, and they thought it 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.720 was outrageous to see her in the room. They think 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.160 it's provocative, it's offensive. They think it could be embarrassing 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.520 to their leader and set of acting on what they've 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.320 been told by higher ups to do. 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.400 Here's what Anthony Albanezi said about it at a press 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.679 conference on Monday afternoon, directly after this happened. 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.880 Well, I didn't see that. I saw Chang Lay and 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.960 we smiled at each other during. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:24.840 During the event. 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.720 Look, I'm not aware of those issues. It's important that 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.600 people be allowed to participate fully and that's what should 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.720 happen in this building or anywhere else in Australia. 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.440 Chang Ley herself didn't want to be the story here. 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:41.720 She is on Sky News. 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.840 Well, I wanted to get away from the guy who 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.760 was standing next to me, and I think the worry 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.000 is that my being there is a symbol of some sort. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.200 Maybe they didn't want that for the domestic audience, that's 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.880 a guess. But like you said, we don't want this 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:05.160 incident to a shadow the rest of the visit, which 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.760 is the real news. Yeah, it's enough of a circus 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.080 without me being the sideshow. 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.200 She was empathetic to the Prime Minister's office. 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.440 Well, what I know is that they've been working like 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:21.240 crazy and I can having dealt with Chinese officialdom on 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:25.560 these sorts of events and not even as important. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.320 It's these ones. 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:31.560 They are very, very control freakish, so they want to 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.280 know everything and they want to stage manage everything. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.640 As the trip moved to Perth, Albanezi realized his reaction 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.760 had been too muted, and he hit the airwaves. Nathan 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.839 Nat and Sean the local breakfast show on Nov. Ninety 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.880 three point seven, Alvo Hello, good morning, Albanezy wanted to 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.360 fix the previous days stumble but in a friendly environment. 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.200 Why are you in the studio with us? 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.000 If you're in sir. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:03.520 Oh, I'm in trouble. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.400 There was a lot of laughing about pandas, and then 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.920 Albanizie was asked, how is negotiating the relationship with China. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.360 Yeah, we have a really strong relationship with them, but 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.240 also keep them honest. 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.599 By being straightforward, by raising the issues that we have 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:26.680 with China in a deliberate but a clear way as well. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.520 There's no point shaking your fist. It's important that what 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.439 you do is to indicate the differences that we have. 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.839 We have different values in different political systems, and we 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.679 saw some of that yesterday. I've got to say with 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:48.280 the attempt that was pretty ham fisted to block Cheng Lai, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:52.800 the Australian journalists who were able to get brought home 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.680 at the press conference, and there was a clumsy attempt 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.360 really to just stand in between where the cameras were 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.640 and Chang Lay and the Australian officials did the right 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:03.720 thing and intervened. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.840 Yeah, it obviously was not something he wanted to dominate 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:12.480 with that press conference. However, his non response actually just 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.160 if anything, amplified the story. I mean, the footage is 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.280 the footage, and the behavior is the behavior, right, But 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.959 then compounding it is the Australian Prime Minister trying to 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.839 wish it away himself. Is he being honest about not 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.120 knowing or is he being deceptive about not knowing to 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.080 try to not hurt the feelings of the visiting Chinese leader. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.400 I think that clarity today, with not having to make 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.880 that decision on his feet, and that press conference and 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.800 speaking to his team, and probably seeing today's front pages 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:44.000 of our newspaper and others, and hearing the media coverage 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.520 of it on television and radio. The majority of Australian 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.880 public seems to be appalled by what happened, and I 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.640 think today was about making sure he responded to that. 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.240 Throughout the day, Albanezy got more strident. 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:01.800 I met with Chang Lai after we helped to secure 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.640 her coming home. She visited me in Parliament House in 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:10.280 my office, and she's a very decent human being and 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.559 a very professional journalist. And there should be no impediments 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.920 to Australian journalists going about their job, and we're made 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.760 that clear to the Chinese embassy. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:26.160 And now Albanesi's gone even further, calling the encounter rude 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:32.559 and entirely inappropriate. The work of Penny Wong Anthony Albanesi 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.920 to get Chang Lei back to Australia. One interpretation of 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.079 that from the Chinese point of view could be that 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.679 she had served her time for the offense that she 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.280 had allegedly committed of breaching an embargo, and that she 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.000 went back to Australia, presumably never to return. What does 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.480 this encounter tell us about the way the Chinese administration 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.640 actually thinks about Chang Lei and the release of her. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.920 Does this tell us that they think they've been humiliated 0:11:58.960 --> 0:11:59.439 in some way? 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.920 I think Chang Lai goes in a very large bucket 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.480 of things they just want to kind of disappear away. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.959 She's a very inconvenient fact, just like the existence of 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.199 the lobster ban, right which they won't even acknowledge that 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:17.920 that's ever happened, but it's very real. No live lobster's 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.280 been allowed and legally for more than four years. It's 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.959 real that happened. You know, there are so many things 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.199 that are real points of tension in this relationship. But 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.120 for China, they wanted the messaging of this to be 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.360 that the relationship's back on track. That requires a kind 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:37.120 of disappearing and and overlooking of a whole bunch of 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.720 very real problems in this relationship and our political system. 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.719 We have a liberal democracy with a free press, and 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.959 they would say they're creating a positive environment right now, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:53.440 positive sentiment towards Australia ahead of this trip. They wouldn't 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.439 allow this kind of thing to happen, that's true, But 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.360 you know, our systems, our system. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.920 Coming up. What everyone missed while this strange diplomatic scuffle 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.400 was happening. Our subscribers at the Australian get access to 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.720 this kind of in depth analysis twenty four to seven. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.600 Check us out at the Australian dot com dot au 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:32.400 and we'll be back after this break. What was going 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:34.920 on at the front of the room while this strange 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.160 pushing and shoving was going on at the back, was 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:41.000 the signing of five memoranda of understanding with China on 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.559 everything from education to trade. Now we don't know a 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:49.079 lot of details about those memoranda will but what does 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.240 it mean that they've been signed, and how does the 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.040 detail come out? 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.920 Now we've been told that details will come out after 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.480 Premier League gets on a plane and leaves the country, right. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.520 And it's sort of another epitome of the weirdness of 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:06.199 this relationship, right. I mean we're sort of meant to 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.320 repull in on it like it's significant, but we don't 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.280 know what's in there, right, And I mean I will 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.960 go out ahead of seeing them and just predict they'll 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.880 be very very little of substance in there, right. I 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.320 would expect under all the different themes, there'll be commitments 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.680 for the whatever round of talks on this or that, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:26.640 exploratory meetings to create this or that dialogue. It's kind 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:30.080 of a make work exercise. There's a certain amount of 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:35.840 just doing the theater of Australian China relations. I mean, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.920 we do have shared interests in a bunch of different areas, 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:43.480 different economic areas particularly, but the cultural areas and other things, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.160 and so you know, it's not like we don't have 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.920 things to talk about. But I would expect that those 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.080 MOUs will be very much at the fledgling stage of everything. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:55.720 And you know, this whole trip underlines the profound distrust 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:58.600 that exists between Australia and China still, and I mean 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.960 all those MoU on whatever topic, they're going to have 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.000 to navigate extreme distrust between the two rights. So they're 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:06.960 only going to be possible if they don't require much 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:07.720 from each side. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:17.120 Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. It's a 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.760 big day for the Australian. We're hosting our Energy Nation 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.000 Forum in Sydney, with the Government, opposition and business coming 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.240 together to discuss the big issue of our moment, how 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.840 to keep the lights on as we transition to a 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.440 new energy economy. You can follow it live at the 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.080 Australian dot com dot au and we'll be back tomorrow 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:37.520 with all the news.