Phillip CooreyPolitical editor Nov 19, 2020 – 4.27pm https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/us-mocks-beijing-s-threats-against-australia-20201119-p56fyh The US government has mocked a series of threats issued by China to the Morrison government, saying Beijing was effectively demanding that Australia surrender its sovereignty. The National Security Council, which comprises the US President's principal national security advisers and cabinet officials, took to Twitter after the Chinese embassy in Canberra took the unusual step of listing its grievances with Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuses to be cowed by China's list of grievances. Joe Armao "Beijing is upset Australia took steps to expose and thwart Chinese espionage & to protect Aussie sovereignty,'' the NSC tweeted. "It’s encouraging to see a growing number of countries following Canberra’s lead in taking such steps, which Beijing helpfully lays out here. "The Chinese Communist Party used to be more subtle in its attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of nations. Their 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy is back firing; more and more nations worldwide have Australia’s back." "We won't be compromising on the fact that we will set what our foreign investment laws are or how we build our 5G telecommunications networks or how we run our systems of protecting against interference Australia’s way we run our country. "We won't be changing any of that and I can tell you, in that list you would have seen that apparently the media and freely elected politicians aren't allowed to speak their minds. "We won't be changing that in Australia either. So we'll continue to be ourselves. We will stand up for our national interests but we'll engage with our partners respectfully." Mr Morrison has just returned from a quick trip to Japan where he and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reached in-principle agreement on a mutual defence pact.