China Slams Australia and New Zealand Over Rights Criticism, Calls Remarks ‘Colonial-Style Arrogance’
China on Wednesday sharply criticised Australia and New Zealand, accusing both countries of showing “colonial-style arrogance” after the two nations issued a joint statement raising concerns over Beijing’s human rights record and regional conduct.
The response came from China’s embassy in New Zealand, which said comments by the Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers were “marked by bias, misinformation, and inexplicable colonial-style arrogance.” Beijing also accused the two governments of hypocrisy and double standards in their assessment of China’s internal affairs and foreign policy.
China further hit back by pointing to what it described as Australia and New Zealand’s own “poor records” on human rights and ethnic minority issues, including the treatment of Indigenous communities. According to reports, Beijing argued that the two countries had no standing to lecture China while failing to address longstanding injustices at home.
The diplomatic row followed a joint statement from Canberra and Wellington that criticised China over issues including Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea, while also linking the broader dispute to tensions surrounding the Middle East conflict. China said the two countries had ignored what it called the “root cause” of the current war, referring to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Beijing’s rebuttal reflects its increasingly forceful diplomatic posture when responding to criticism from Western governments. Even while using unusually harsh language, Chinese officials also signalled that they still wanted stable and cooperative ties with both Australia and New Zealand.
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