Mining magnate helped Chinese consul-general crash Hunt’s conference Billionaire iron ore miner Andrew Forrest has been accused of ambushing the Australian government after he parachuted one of China’s top diplomats into an official event, blindsiding the Health Minister. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...-hunt-s-press-conference-20200429-p54oa6.html Greg Hunt blindsided as Chinese consul-general crashes press conference Eryk Bagshaw, Anthony Galloway and Darren Gray Updated April 29, 2020 — 6.53pmfirst published at 4.29pm Billionaire miner Andrew Forrest has been accused of ambushing the Australian government after he parachuted one of China’s top diplomats into an official event, blindsiding Health Minister Greg Hunt. Mr Forrest, the Fortescue chairman, surprised Mr Hunt by inviting China’s consul-general for Victoria Zhou Long to speak alongside him on Wednesday after he secured 10 million coronavirus tests from China, a 20-fold increase in Australia’s testing capacity. Health Minister Greg Hunt walks away from Chinese consul-general Zhou Long and Andrew Forrest after the press conference.Credit:AAP The audacious bid to mend a deteriorating political relationship between Beijing and Canberra follows increasing pressure from corporate leaders for Australia to back down on its public threats to pursue China’s role in the coronavirus outbreak. Beijing has spent the past week accusing Australia of being a bully pushing US interests in the region and warned Chinese consumers could walk out on Australian brands if it continues to lobby for a global independent inquiry into the disease. Mr Hunt did not introduce Mr Zhou and did not allow him to take questions. The Foreign Minister's Office and the Prime Minister's Office also were not informed of Mr Zhou's attendance at the media event, which was held at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne. Mr Zhou used the opportunity to repudiate the Australian government's criticisms and praise China's handling of the crisis. The consul-general said China had worked in an "open, transparent and responsible" manner with the World Health Organisation. China has stepped up its diplomatic assault on Australia over Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s demands for an investigation into how COVID-19 started. Government sources said the hijacking of the press conference could work in Australia's favour by demonstrating it was willing to put a week of escalating tensions behind it. Mr Forrest, who has made significant investments in China through iron ore, urged Australia and global health authorities to delay any inquiry into the virus until after the US election in November and said it should not just be focussed on China. "That would make it instantly political," he said. "Australia needs to walk that line where we have a best friend in America, a best friend in China, best friends across South-East Asia." Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson said Mr Forrest "is worth listening to on how to run a successful mining company. I don’t think the government will be following his advice on foreign policy.” China’s consul-general for Victoria Zhou Long (right) and Health Minister Greg Hunt.Credit:AAP Another Liberal MP, Tim Wilson, said "in a diplomatic disagreement it's a pretty basic expectation for Australians to be loyal and back their own, not invite a platform for a foreign spokesperson”. Other MPs said Mr Hunt was clearly ambushed and given little warning. The chairman of medical company BGI, Wang Jian, praised the strength of the business relationship between Mr Forrest and China. Mr Wang sold the test kits to Mr Forrest's philanthropic Minderoo Foundation for $320 million. "We were able to protect supply chains for this extremely rare equipment and have Andrew deliver it straight to Australia," he said. The privately sourced kits will see Australia's testing capacity bolstered by 10 million more tests as it looks to expand asymptomatic testing and re-open the economy. As of Wednesday, Australia has conducted more than 500,000 tests. Tony Battaglene, chief executive of industry group Australian Grape and Wine, said he was concerned about the ongoing broader diplomatic spat between China and Australia being played out in public. "[The market] is even more important now with COVID-19, in that China is going to be the first export market to recover in the world and we need to be in a position to take advantage of that. Because that will drive our recovery," he said. China is going to be the first export market to recover in the world and we need to be in a position to take advantage of that. Tony Battaglene, chief executive of Australian Grape and Wine "I don't think tit-for-tat stuff through the media is the right way to treat a respected trading partner. And I think if Australia wants to talk about these things then it needs to actually go to China individually, or else work through a coalition with the UN." Bega Cheese chairman Barry Irvin said he hoped the dispute would be resolved and "good relations are restored in a reasonable amount of time". Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday Australia would press ahead with its pursuit of the inquiry after calling European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen overnight. Businessman Andrew Forrest of the Minderoo Foundation.Credit:AAP "We discussed this issue," he said. "The Europeans are bringing forward a motion on this matter at the world health assembly. I think it is a very good motion." China's Foreign Ministry has become increasingly agitated about Australia's push for the global inquiry. "Australian side's erroneous words and deeds recently have upset the Chinese people and that may impact bilateral relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday night. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said China’s criticisms of Australia were "ludicrous". "The reality is Australia thinks it’s prudent and sensible for there to be an independent and transparent investigation into the origins of this global pandemic that has killed thousands and thousands of people across the world,” he told Sky News.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federa...ina-critics-in-diplomatic-row-20200430-p54om1 The intervention of West Australian billionaires Andrew Forrest and Kerry Stokes in the China debate has been savaged by security experts. Billionaires defy China critics in diplomatic row Andrew Tillett, Jennifer Hewett and Michael Smith Apr 30, 2020 – 5.42pm Iron ore giants BHP and Fortescue Metals Group expressed confidence in continued exports to China amid the deteriorating relationship between Canberra and Beijing at the political level. The miners' show of faith came as media mogul Kerry Stokes echoed mining magnate Andrew Forrest in urging Scott Morrison to shelve his push for a probe into the origins of COVID-19. Health Minister Greg Hunt walks away from Chinese consul-general Zhou Long and Andrew Forrest after Wednesday's press conference. James Ross The fallout from Mr Forrest's invitation to a Chinese diplomat to gatecrash Health Minister Greg Hunt's press conference on Wednesday continued. Mr Hunt cancelled an event with Mr Forrest on Thursday on children's cancer treatment to avoid questions over the furore dominating the announcement. In bizarre scenes on Wednesday, Mr Forrest thrust himself into the role of statesman, inviting China's consul-general in Victoria, Zhou Long, to speak at a press conference with Mr Hunt announcing the delivery of 10 million COVID-19 test kits, blindsiding the minister. Mr Forrest dismissed stories in some media outlets that suggested Mr Hunt was unhappy with his invitation to the Chinese consul-general to attend the conference announcing the securing of test kits. Mr Forrest said he had developed a very strong relationship with the Health Minister, who he said was very prepared to invest alongside entrepreneurial philanthropists in these areas. Mr Stokes used a front-page interview with the newspaper he controls, The West Australian, to urge Mr Morrison to patch up the relationship with Beijing. Tensions erupted following a warning by China's ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, in an interview with The Australian Financial Review, of a potential consumer boycott of Australian universities, tourism, wine and beef if the government persisted with its push for an inquiry. “If we’re going to go into the biggest debt we’ve had in our life and then simultaneously poke our biggest provider of income in the eye it’s not necessarily the smartest thing you can do," Mr Stokes was quoted as saying. Intervention in the China debate by Mr Forrest and Mr Stokes – among Australia's best-connected businessmen with China – was slammed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute chief and former senior Defence Department official Peter Jennings. The Chinese are not going to stop eating and they are not going to stop buying Australian products. "They have to understand the national interest is more important than a handful of wealthy businessmen continuing to make themselves rich dealing with an authoritarian China," Mr Jennings said. In response to a question about whether BHP needed to diversify from China, BHP chief Mike Henry said Chinese companies had been great business partners for decades and the trade relationship remained strong. "We continue to have constructive dialogue through the [coronavirus] crisis, they have been very supportive and focused on ensuring they can meet their offtake and supply commitments to BHP and I expect that is going to continue," he said. Asked at Fortescue's quarterly results update whether Chinese customers and suppliers had pushed back in the wake of the latest diplomatic tension, chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said the relationship remained strong. "It is fair to say most of them are leaving the politics to the politicians and we are trading with them under our long-standing trading relationships,'' she said. Some Australian executives in China did not believe the political spat would hurt business. "Now is the time to double down if you want to be trading with China," Michael Wadley, a Shanghai-based lawyer and business adviser to Australian exporters. "The Chinese are not going to stop eating and they are not going to stop buying Australian products."
[QUOTE="themickey, post: 5087070, member: "It is fair to say most of them are leaving the politics to the politicians and we are trading with them under our long-standing trading relationships,'' she said. [/QUOTE] A truly creepy statement. As though having the Chinese destroy your country is just some political matter that people are concerned about off in Parliament but should not get in the way of "our long-standing relationships."
https://www.smh.com.au/national/cor...-death-toll-stands-at-92-20200430-p54opx.html PM tells Twiggy to stay out of politics after misleading China remarks By Max Koslowski Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told billionaire Andrew Forrest to stay away from foreign affairs, accusing him of providing false information about the origins of coronavirus. “I don’t think anybody’s in any fantasyland about where [the virus] started,” Mr Morrison told Alan Jones on 2GB this morning. “It started in China.” Asked by Mr Jones whether Mr Forrest was lying when he said yesterday the virus could have started in another country, the Prime Minister said "that’s obviously not true". “What the world over needs to know is how did it start and what are the lessons that can be learned? That needs to be done independently,” he said. “Why do we want to know that? Because it could happen again.” Australia has been urging countries such as France and the United States to join them in calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus, which led to the Chinese ambassador threatening a consumer boycott of students and tourists visiting Australia, as well as sales of popular agricultural exports like wine and beef.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/with-friends-like-twiggy-forrest-20200501-p54ovz Opinion Phillip Coorey Political editor May 1, 2020 – 10.29am Hunt thought Chinese diplomat worked for Andrew Forrest (Twiggy) The health minister agreed to a press conference to thank Andrew Forrest for using his contacts to source virus testing kits from China. He thought Long Zhou was an employee of Fortescue. The first time that Health Minister Greg Hunt knew that Andrew Forrest had invited China's Victorian consul-general to gatecrash Wednesday's press conference was as they walked along the corridor towards the waiting cameras. Hunt, who had agreed to a press conference to thank Forrest for using his contacts to source 10 million coronavirus testing kits from China, initially thought Long Zhou was an employee of Fortescue. Hijacked: Health Minister Greg Hunt walks away from Chinese consul-general Zhou Long and Andrew Forrest after Wednesday's press conference. James Ross That was until Forrest introduced him and told Hunt he would be participating in the press conference and would be making a statement. Hunt could do nothing as the cameras were focused on the group. He quickly scanned a copy of Long's statement to ensure there was nothing incendiary and said to both men through gritted teeth: "Not a word out of place.'' Forrest's ambush of Hunt came at the height of a new crisis in Australia-China relations thanks to an explosive interview with The Australian Financial Review in which Chinese ambassador Cheng Jing Ye warned of a consumer boycott should Australia continue to insist on an inquiry into the origin and spread of the coronavirus. Cheng's warning laid bare what those in political, diplomatic and foreign affairs circles have always known about the true nature of the regime in Beijing. It was a glass-jawed bully that viewed bilateral relations as one-way affairs that should be skewed in Beijing's interest. Equally, Forrest's attempt to shore up his own commercial interests, followed by a similar attempt at appeasement the next day by Kerry Stokes, (Newspaper tycoon) also came as no surprise to those in the know. Turnbull's view Australia had done nothing more than back an inquiry into the origins of a pandemic that has crippled the global economy and cost tens of thousands of lives. You'd think business might welcome such an inquiry to ensure this never happens again. As Malcolm Turnbull, who had more than his fair share of run-ins with Beijing, noted in his recently-published memoir: "An Australian prime minister who ends up in conflict with China cannot expect any support or solidarity from the Australia business community. "Overwhelmingly, they're totally invested in the economic benefits of the relationship and, as I saw many times, they'll always blame their own government if problems arise, even if the problems have nothing to do with government policy." Stokes and Forrest have a lot at stake if China starts making good on its threats. One in four jobs in their home state of Western Australia depends on China. WA Premier Mark McGowan has found himself somewhere in the middle, calling for restraint amid fears the spat could jeopardise his state's economic recovery. Just as the relationship between China and Australia has plumbed new depths, that between the political/national security apparatus and the billionaires has taken a turn for the worse.