Australian minister accuses Beijing of election interference

Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews

A senior Australian minister suggested that China had deliberately announced its security pact with the Solomon Islands during an election campaign to undermine her government’s chances of reelection.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews’ accusation is consistent with her conservative Liberal Party’s argument that Beijing wants the center-left Labor Party to win the May 21 election because Labor lawmakers were less likely to stand up to Chinese economic coercion.

Labor has described the government’s inability to prevent the deal announced by the Chinese and Solomons governments last week as Australia’s biggest foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.

Andrews — who is responsible for the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and has access to classified secrets from other intelligence agencies — said Australians should be “taking notice of and paying some attention to” the timing of the Solomons’ announcements.

“Beijing is clearly very aware that we’re in a federal election campaign here at the moment. Why now? Why, right in the middle of a federal election campaign is all this coming to light?” Andrews told Brisbane Radio 4BC.

John Blaxland, Australian National University’s Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies, questioned whether Andrews was drawing on classified intelligence briefings in her comments on the Solomons.

“It certainly is plausible that they timed it this way. They would’ve been mindful of what’s happening in the elections,” Blaxland said.

“I’d be very surprised if China wanted to go public on siding with one side or the other because that’s basically a poison chalice you’re handing to that side of politics,” Blaxland added.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry attacked Defense Minister Peter Dutton’s warning this week that Australians must prepare for war because of the threat from China and global insecurity spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Certain Australian politicians often seek selfish political gains by making wild remarks to smear China and clamor for war,” Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said this week. MDT/AP