Australian says China uses different tone in private talks

CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian official said on Thursday that China used a different tone in private talks than it used in a recent public statement that demanded Australia take "concrete actions" to improve bilateral ties.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Frances Adamson was being questioned by a Senate committee on the vastly different accounts that the Australian and Chinese foreign ministers gave of their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a Group of 20 minister's conference in Argentina last week.

Australia has been talking down media reports of diplomatic disruptions over Chinese anger at Australian policies, including a proposed legislative ban on foreign interference in politics.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop described her meeting last week with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as "very warm and candid and constructive."

Wang said through a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman that he told Bishop that Australia needed to "take off tinted glasses and see China's development from a positive perspective" if it really wanted to get relations back on track. "Tinted glasses" is Chinese diplomatic shorthand for what it sees as Western bias.

But Adamson told the committee Thursday that China took a different tone in private talks with Australian officials.

"I think the (Chinese) public characterization of the meeting in tone is consistent with the recent tone adopted in the Chinese media," Adamson told the committee.

"But I do draw a distinction between that tone as depicted publicly and the tone that we discern through direct conversations with the Chinese," she said.

"I think the Chinese very much want to encourage a respectful public discourse about their role in the region, about our bilateral relationship, and this is not unique to Australia," she added.

Bishop maintains that she makes the same statements in public as she makes in private meetings with foreign officials.

The spat is impacting Australia's trade as well as diplomatic relationship with its most important economic partner. Australia is regarded the developed country most dependent on China, which is the largest market for Australia's must lucrative exports, iron ore and coal.

Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates, one of the world's largest wine companies, told the Australian Securities Exchange this month that it was experiencing delays in getting Australian wine through Chinese customs.

Graham Fletcher, the department's first assistant secretary, told the committee that he was aware of "three or four companies" in the Australian wine industry that were experiencing similar delays.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed an agreement when he visited Australia in March last year that would give Australian ranchers greater access to the Chinese chilled beef market.

Australian beef producers are frustrated that the agreement has yet to take effect. Fletcher told the committee that the agreement had not progressed "as quickly as we wanted."

Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo visited Shanghai this month but did not meet his Chinese counterpart.

Adamson, a former ambassador to Beijing, told the committee a meeting "wasn't convenient, wasn't suitable" for the Chinese.

Australian media reported this week that a classified government report commissioned by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2016 had found that the Chinese Communist Party had tried to influence Australian policy, compromise political parties and gain access to all levels of government for a decade. The government won't comment on the media reports.