Beijing Uses Trade to ‘Manipulate Public Debate’: Liberal Senator Claire Chandler

‘While the lifting of the coercive restrictions is welcomed, we must not be fooled into treating it as the main focus of our foreign policy.’

Liberal Senator Claire Chandler makes her maiden speech in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House Canberra, Australia, on July 23, 2019. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Australia needs to be “very clear-eyed” about Beijing’s strategy of using economic incentives to “manipulate public debate” and divert international attention from its military aggression, a Liberal senator has warned.

The warning follows the conclusion of the three-year trade freeze between China and Australia, culminating in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) scrapping one of its final trade restrictions, Australia’s wine export tariffs, in late March.