At US behest, Australia exaggerates concerns about ‘China threat’
Australia has accused China of trying to block three Royal Australian Navy warships from entering the port of Ho Chi Minh City. The Chinese Defense Ministry has dismissed the message as “disinformation.”
In an interview with Sputnik, Alexei Fenenko, a lecturer in the International Security Department at the Faculty of World Politics at Moscow State University, said that Australia is "demonizing" China at the behest of the United States. The expert predicted that Sino-Australian relations will become even colder because Washington sees Australia as a tool to contain China.
According to Russian experts, the cause of this scandal is "very simple":
In April alone, there were at least two episodes of tension in Sino-Australian relations. On April 10, Australian media reported that China was establishing a military base in Vanuatu. Vanuatu and China immediately denied the information. Meanwhile, on April 19, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai once again had to deny allegations by the Australian media that his country was negotiating with China to build a naval base. The statement came after the Vanuatu Prime Minister met with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The meeting was held in London as part of the Commonwealth Summit. Responding to questions from journalists, Charlot Salwai said that he had assured the Australian Prime Minister that the media reports were false. This suggests that the Australian government simply does not want to believe what its regional neighbours tell it.
On Thursday, April 19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called on Australia to listen to the voices of other countries. She twice called on Australia to do so when commenting on Australia's hype of concerns about "China's virtual threat" around the non-existent base in Vanuatu.
