China-Australia rift deepens as Beijing tests overseas sway
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australias ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huaweis involvement in its future 5G networks and its crackdown on foreign covert interference are testing Beijings efforts to project its power overseas.
In its latest maneuver, China sent three scholars to spell out in interviews with Australian media and other appearances steps to mend the deepening rift with Beijing _ a move that appears to have fallen flat.
In a recent press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Chen Hong, the head of Australian studies at East China Normal University, accused Australia of acting as a pawn for the United States in lobbying other countries against Huaweis involvement in the nascent 5G networks.
Australia has been in one way or another, so to speak, pioneering this kind of anti-China campaign, even some kind of a scare and smear campaign against China, Chen said. That is definitely not what China will be appreciating, and if other countries follow suit, that is going to be recognized as extremely unfriendly, he said.
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