Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton has stood by his view that Beijing would prefer to see the centre-left Labor opposition win office at the May 21 election.
Dutton, of the governing centre-right Coalition, made the comments during the Defence Debate with shadow defence spokesperson Brendan O’Connor at the National Press Club in Canberra.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would like to see a change of government at the May 21 election. No question at all,” he told reporters on May 5.
“In relation to the appeasement element, I think that if you look at all of the language of [shadow foreign affairs spokesperson] Penny Wong—Penny Wong believes that she can go to Beijing on a charm offensive and she could change the direction of China under President Xi,” he added. “President Xi, of course, would be laughing under his breath as he was entertaining his dear friend in Beijing.”
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