ASPI Executive Director Justin Bassi says Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian's address to the National Press Club today was in “exactly the same style” as a speech from China's defence minister a couple of months ago.
Mr Bassi said the Ambassador's speech included talk of "the economic prosperity that we could all enjoy with cooperation with Beijing”.
“But then progressively getting stronger through the speech and into the Q and A where the Ambassador set out Beijing’s positions on a range of issues including Taiwan and where there would be, in his words, no compromise,” he told Sky News Australia.
“The message was clear in the bilateral relationship, it would be Australia that would have to change, not just rhetoric, but policy, to ensure a productive relationship going forward.”
