MPs push back against China over consulate-general letter criticising attendance at Taiwanese function

• In short: The NSW premier has pushed back against China following an email raising concerns about MPs attending a Taiwanese function.
• On Thursday, the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney contacted MPs following their attendance of a function celebrating Taiwan’s new president and vice-president.
• NSW Premier Chris Minns said Labor MPs will attend any community function they deem as appropriate.

NSW Premier Chris Minns says his MPs will not be bullied after China criticised a group of politicians for attending a Taiwanese event in Sydney.

Ten state MPs and federal MP Paul Fletcher attended a function on Monday last week celebrating Taiwan’s new president and vice-president.

On Thursday, the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney emailed MPs raising concerns about their attendance.

“The Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Sydney (the Consulate-General) has noted that you recently attended the event in celebration of the inauguration of the so-called 16th-term President and Vice President of Taiwan region on the evening of May 20,” it wrote.

“The Consulate-General firmly opposes this action.”

The email went on to lay out “China’s position on the Taiwan Question”, including that “Taiwan is part of China, not a country”.

In the email, the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Sydney firmly opposed Australian MPs attending a function celebrating Taiwan’s new president and vice-president.(Flickr)

The consulate-general claimed attending the event violated the “One China principle”.

“What you say and do should be consistent with the Australian government’s foreign policy,” it wrote.

“The Consulate-General hopes that you will adhere to the fact that ‘Taiwan is a province of China’ and properly handle Taiwan-related issues with prudence and rein, so as to truly honor [sic] the One China principle and avoid unnecessary interference or damage to the hard-earned momentum towards improving China-Australia relations.”

‘An attempt to intimidate politicians’

NSW Premier Chris Minns defended the MPs’ attendance.(AAP: Bianca De Marchi)

Mr Minns said Labor MPs would go to any community function they believed was appropriate.

“We’re not going to be in a situation where any Labor MP is going to be bullied or intimidated about going to a function,” the premier said.

“We live in a multicultural community. There’s people from all over the world. Often those people don’t agree with each other on international events, but it’s the responsibility of every MP to represent their community.”

Labor MP Hugh McDermott was among the parliamentarians who attended the event.

Other politicians who attended were state Liberal MPs Mark Coure, Tim James, Jordan Lane, Rachel Merton, Jacqui Munro, Chris Rath, Damien Tudehope and Ray Williams, as well as independent MP Rod Roberts.

Damien Tudehope said this letter was the first time he’d received such correspondence after attending an event such as this.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)

Mr Tudehope said it was the first time he had received such correspondence after attending a multicultural event.

“It could well be construed as an attempt to intimidate politicians in the sense that the implication behind the email was that attending events like that does not assist Australia’s relationship with Beijing,” he said.

“There is nothing NSW politicians can do in respect of influencing Australia’s foreign policy position.”

The shadow treasurer said he had also attended many Chinese community events.

“Quite frankly, MPs should attend events organised by multicultural communities within their provinces and electorates and should do so without impunity and without necessarily taking advice from the Chinese consulate,” Mr Tudehope said.

‘Escalation of sorts’

Benjamin Herscovitch, a research fellow at the ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance, said Beijing seemed to be stepping up its messaging on Taiwan.

“Part of that might be a function of the fact that we’ve just had, in January of this year, the historically unprecedented third presidential term for the Democratic Progressive Party, which is a political party that Beijing despises,” Dr Herscovitch said.

Benjamin Herscovitch said a letter is part of China’s long-term strategy to influence how the international community engages with Taiwan.(Supplied)

Dr Herscovitch said there was an element of intimidation in the email.

“The Chinese government wants to say, ‘Australia and Australian elected representatives, you need to stay on good behaviour and not do things that we don’t like, such as engaging with Taiwanese officials. Otherwise, we might punish you again’,” he said, referencing previous trade sanctions.

“There’s no doubt that there is an overtone of threat here in the message being delivered to Australian parliamentarians.”

Dr Herscovtich said the email was consistent with a long-term strategy to spread disinformation about the Australian government’s policy on China and Taiwan.

He said Australia recognised Beijing as China’s sole legal government and acknowledged its position that Taiwan was a province of China but did not endorse that view.

“Australia is not of the view that Taiwan is in practice or ought to be in principle part of China.”

“Effectively, Australia maintains a certain amount of leeway because of that ambiguity.”