By Hannah Moore for Nca Newswire

Published: 8:31 PM EDT, March 22, 2024 | Updated: 9:13 PM EDT, March 22, 2024

Chinese state media have seized on Paul Keating’s much-criticized meeting with the country’s top foreign affairs official, praising the Labor hero as an “insightful Australian”.

Mr Keating has become a prominent critic of Australia’s approach to the United States and China, speaking with the economic powerhouse’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Sydney during a diplomatic visit on Thursday.

Pictures of the pair’s meeting at the Chinese consulate were published last night, with the Chinese government claiming Mr Keating said ‘China’s development and revitalization cannot be stopped’.

“Keating said that China’s huge economic volume and vast space for development do not pose a threat to other countries and are conducive to regional peace and stability,” said a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.

“He expressed his full confidence in the prospect of Australia-China relations.”

In the footage, Mr Wang placed his hand comfortably on Mr Keating’s back and led the former prime minister into the meeting room.

Mr Wang described Mr Keating as a “world-renowned statesman” as the pair sat opposite each other in oversized armchairs with cups of tea.

In a separate article published by Global Times, China’s state-run newspaper, Keating was described as an “insightful Australian” for his vehement criticism of the AUKUS deal.

“Some insightful Australians have already realized that Australia is surrendering its sovereignty to the US,” the article reads.

‘Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating recently criticized the AUKUS deal as the ‘worst international decision’. Hopefully, such words can sound the alarm for countries interested in joining AUKUS, regardless of which pillar it may be.”

After the meeting, Mr Keating issued a statement praising the “very pleasant and engaging event” and accepting that Mr Wang’s meetings with government officials were productive.

‘Mr Wang Yi emphasized China’s ability to continue to grow strong and strong, pointing out that China is still only 55 percent urbanized – another 20 percent to go.

‘Mainly [it was] a major discussion about the geostrategic balances and influences in the world.

“He said the world will continue to benefit from China’s ability to provide relatively low-priced, high-quality goods, which will help raise living standards in the West.”

Mr Keating has repeatedly criticized the Albanian government’s approach to China, claiming Foreign Minister Wong had been co-opted into taking a “foolish pro-American stance”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who has faced much of Keating’s criticism, released a statement noting that the former prime minister does not represent Australia or speak for Australia.

‘Mr Keating is entitled to his opinion. He does not speak for the government or the country,” Senator Wong said in an earlier statement to The Australian.

And opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham raised questions earlier this week about the format of Keating’s meeting.

‘Look what Paul Keating had to say about Penny Wong and the Albanian government. And he has been very critical of them,” Mr. Birmingham noted.

On Friday he doubled down on his position, describing Mr Keating’s “attitude towards the way we view regional security issues” as “misguided, ill-considered and downright dangerous”.

“In terms of what Paul Keating has to say and how this affects Australia, it is critical that Australian governments reject much of his vision and approach as it gives far too much gloss and ignores the real strategic challenges.

“Frankly, it was quite pointed of the Chinese embassy to seek and request that meeting, and somewhat insulting to Penny Wong and the Albanian government, of whom Paul Keating has been such a critic.”

At the opening of the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, Ms Wong reiterated her pledge to confront Chinese leaders on key issues.

She said she “looks forward to speaking candidly about Australians detained in China, human rights, maritime security and regional and international issues.”

Ms Wong spoke of China’s “unsafe conduct” in the South China Sea and urged the nation to adhere to international law.

Her input on the subject in the past has angered Mr Keating, who has emerged as an outspoken supporter of China and critic of the AUKUS deal.

Speaking at the ASEAN Summit, Ms Wong said: “We are facing destabilizing, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe behavior at sea and in the air and militarization of contested features.

“We know that military power is expanding, but measures to limit military conflict are not – and there are few concrete mechanisms to avert this.”

Just a day later, Mr Keating criticized her comments, claiming that ‘it doesn’t take much to encourage Penny Wong, with her ‘deeply concerned’ frown, to rattle the China can.’

These comments prompted a swift response from Mr Albanese, who considers Ms Wong one of his closest confidantes.

‘Penny Wong is someone who gives Australia a lot of respect. “She is someone who is diligent, she is someone who is committed, she is someone who ticks all the boxes,” he said.

‘Paul is responsible for what he says, he knows that. But as far as Penny Wong is concerned, I think he is clearly wrong.”

Mr Albanese attended Ms Wong’s wedding to her long-time partner Sophie Allouache at the Bird in Hand Winery in the Adelaide Hills on Saturday.

Penny Wong has issued some cautionary advice to China’s top foreign affairs official, in a move likely to further infuriate former Labor hero Paul Keating.

Australia’s foreign minister – hailed as the country’s most popular politician – drew Mr Keating’s ire over her handling of Australia’s relationship with China.

Mr Keating has repeatedly criticized Anthony Albanese’s government’s approach to China, claiming Foreign Secretary Wong had been co-opted into taking a “foolish pro-American stance”.

She met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday, but the official has also sought a meeting with Mr Keating, which will take place on Thursday.

‘Mr Keating is entitled to his opinion. He does not speak for the government or the country,” Senator Wong said in a statement to The Australian.

At the opening of the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue, Ms Wong reiterated her pledge to confront Chinese leaders on key issues.

She said she “looks forward to speaking candidly about Australians detained in China, human rights, maritime security and regional and international issues.”

Ms Wong referred in particular to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the troubles in the Pacific and the conflict in the Middle East.

“I have emphasized that it is in all our interests to commit to preventive architecture to reduce the risk of conflict, and that communication should never be withheld as a punishment or offered as a reward,” she said.

‘Dialogue allows us to manage our differences; we both know it doesn’t eliminate them. Australia will always be Australia and China will always be China.”

Ms Wong spoke of China’s “unsafe conduct” in the South China Sea and urged the nation to adhere to international law.

Her input on the subject in the past has angered Mr Keating, who has emerged as an outspoken supporter of China and critic of the AUKUS deal.

Speaking at the ASEAN Summit, Ms Wong said: “We are facing destabilizing, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe behavior at sea and in the air and militarization of contested features.

“We know that military power is expanding, but measures to limit military conflict are not – and there are few concrete mechanisms to avert this.”

Just a day later, Mr Keating reflected on her comments – which were widely praised – and claimed that ‘it wouldn’t take much to encourage Penny Wong, with her ‘deeply concerned’ frown, to rattle the Chinese tin can.’

Speaking to Sky on Tuesday morning, Opposition spokesman for foreign affairs Simon Birmingham asked questions about the optics of that meeting.

‘Look what Paul Keating had to say about Penny Wong and the Albanian government. And he has been very critical of them,” Mr. Birmingham noted.

He said that while the opposition “welcomes Wang Yi’s visit” and can recognize its importance, he considers the meeting with Mr Keating “pointed”.

“It is quite pointed and somewhat insulting to Penny Wong that the Chinese Embassy has sought this meeting with such an outspoken critic of Penny Wong.”

Mr Wang is the most senior Chinese official to visit Australia in seven years, a sign that tensions between the two countries are thawing after contact was lost during Covid-19.

He met with Ms Wong in Canberra on Wednesday, where they jointly held the China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue.

Ms Wong then gave a solo press conference, despite inviting Mr Wang to join her.

The meeting was followed by a planned sit-down with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The Australian newspaper reported on Monday that Keating will hold an “unofficial” meeting with Wang, likely in Sydney on Thursday.

Mr Keating has been highly critical of the Federal Government’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal and has taken personal aim at Ms Wong.

These comments prompted a swift response from Mr Albanese, who considers Ms Wong one of his closest confidantes.

‘Penny Wong is someone who gives Australia a lot of respect. “She is someone who is diligent, she is someone who is committed, she is someone who ticks all the boxes,” he said.

‘Paul is responsible for what he says, he knows that. But as far as Penny Wong is concerned, I think he is clearly wrong.”

Mr Albanese attended Ms Wong’s wedding to her long-time partner Sophie Allouache at the Bird in Hand Winery in the Adelaide Hills on Saturday.

Sunrise presenter Natalie Barr has called out Anthony Albanese’s government after it lifted ankle monitors and curfews for four ex-offenders, including a convicted rapist.

The Cuban man, better known as XTVC, was thrown behind bars after raping a 19-year-old girl at a party in 2009. The Australian reports this.

He was sentenced to four years in prison with a non-parole period of two years and six months, and was placed in immigration detention after his release in 2015.

The man was unable to return to Cuba because of a documentary he made about the plight of his people, which led to him being considered a counter-revolutionary.

Four years later, XVC was charged with causing harm to a government official while detained in a Western Australian immigration center.

He was sentenced to 10 months in prison and was detained again upon his release in 2020.

Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling last November, XTVC was released under strict conditions, including ankle monitoring and a curfew from 10pm to 6am.

However, on February 7, the control conditions were revoked and the convicted rapist was allowed to walk free for the first time since 2009.

Barr demanded to know why the rapist was not closely monitored when she confronted Home Secretary Clare O’Neil on Wednesday morning.

“Can you please explain to us how this rapist, who was given a two-year prison sentence for raping a 19-year-old girl at a party, is now free, without ankle monitor monitoring and without a curfew?” she asked Secretary O’Neil on Wednesday.

Ms O’Neil said the Community Protection Board provided advice for every detainee released following a High Court decision last November and that following that advice was “the legally safest way for us to manage those decisions”.

“This is an expert group of former police officers, law enforcement officers, criminologists and psychologists who work to advise the government on what protections should be provided for each individual,” she said.

Barr demanded to know whether the government was bound by the advisory or could have intervened and kept an ankle monitor on the convicted rapist.

Ms O’Neil dodged the question, saying: ‘I can’t comment on the individual cases.’

“So you could have maintained control and said, we are the government, we don’t think that is a good idea given the circumstances of this man and what he has done?” she said.

“Australia is watching this morning and thinking: wait a minute. Australians are trying to find out what the hell is going on.”

Ms O’Neil, her government, had come up with alternative ways to protect Australians, including a $255 million investment in police and border forces.

“If I could bring that detention system back, I absolutely would,” she said.

“But the High Court has made a decision and the government must follow the law, just like every other Australian.”

The Supreme Court ruled last November that indefinite detention was unlawful, leading to the release of 148 detainees.

Some of the group had serious criminal convictions, including for murder and rape, while others faced less serious charges.

They were all behind bars before being placed in immigration detention and subjected to ankle monitors and a curfew.

Several have since been arrested for violating visa rules.

But they avoided conviction due to a “technical issue” with the way their visas were issued, which has since been resolved.

Opposition spokesman Dan Tehan pressed the minister to answer why the visa issue was not addressed earlier.

In response, Mr Giles said the issue dates back to 2013 and had existed for almost a decade under the former coalition government.

Labor faces a new immigration challenge

It comes as Labor faces another High Court challenge as an Iranian citizen known as ASF17 makes a legal bid for freedom.

The Albanian government has tried to send him back to Iran, but as a bisexual man he could face the death penalty if he returns.

Iran is the only country Australia is trying to send him to, even though he is willing to go to another country, his lawyers said in written submissions to the court.

If the ruling is extended to people detained indefinitely who refuse to cooperate with Australian authorities, the Iranian man would be freed and more immigrants could be freed.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles was asked about the issue during Question Time on Monday.

Individuals who have not cooperated in their removal should be forced out of Australia as a matter of priority and remain in immigration detention during the process, he said.

“We will vigorously defend this position before the Supreme Court,” Mr Giles said.

If the Commonwealth wins the case, the government will be able to block further releases from immigration detention.

By Padraig Collins for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 10:19 PM EDT, March 18, 2024 | Updated: 11:01 PM EDT, March 18, 2024

By Ashley Nickel for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 5:03 AM EDT, March 18, 2024 | Updated: 7:01 AM EDT, March 18, 2024

By Madeleine Achenza for Nca Newswire

Published: 8:28 PM EDT, March 17, 2024 | Updated: 11:07 PM EDT, March 17, 2024

There are growing calls for Australia to address the “very serious threat” that Chinese social media giant TikTok poses to Australians.

The short video app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is one of the fastest growing platforms in the world with more than 170 million users in the US and 8.5 million in Australia.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would give ByteDance six months to divest the app and sell it to a company outside China.

Australian Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Sunday that TikTok will remain unsafe unless its relationship with Beijing is “severed”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to follow the US.

“Now that Congress and the US are banning TikTok, do you think we’ll do the same here in Australia?” asked WSFM radio host Brendan Jones.

“We will seek advice, but we have no plans,” Mr Albanese replied.

“You must always put national security interests first, but you must also recognize that this is a way for many people to communicate.”

But Patterson called on the government to “take action”, saying the app posed a risk to Australian democracy and national security.

Speaking on Sunday, he said the coalition does not yet support a full ban on the platform, but that the administration should support growing efforts in the US to spin off TikTok’s US operations from its Beijing-based parent company.

“If the United States successfully removes TikTok from ByteDance, Australia should look to do the same,” the Victorian senator told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“The ending I hope for is that Australians can continue to use TikTok, but without the risk of their data being misused and without the risk that the Chinese Communist Party can override the algorithm to pump disinformation into our democracy.

‘I’m sure intelligence agencies aren’t saying to the Prime Minister, ‘There’s nothing to worry about with TikTok – there’s no worry at all.’

“We know that’s not the case.”

The platform, whose users are mainly teenagers and young adults, is among Australia’s most downloaded apps.

But many politicians and security analysts in Australia and abroad have become increasingly wary of it, concerned that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over user data, or use it for propaganda and to sow division.

TikTok said it will not transfer data to China and that it is trying to remove misinformation from its platform.

The US legislation to tackle TikTok has received significant support among US politicians and was overwhelmingly passed by the lower house of Congress.

TikTok has urged US users to contact their local politicians to show their disapproval via an in-app notification.

If the bill also passes the U.S. Senate, President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the legislation into law, creating a legal challenge to the legislation on the grounds that it infringes on the First Nations’ right to freedom of expression Amendment.

Chinese government officials have also expressed opposition to US pressure to force the sale of TikTok, telling ByteDance they would prefer to see a ban enforced.

An outcome in which ByteDance refuses to divest the $160 billion app, forcing the ban and reducing its value, would be “revealing,” Senator Paterson said.

“That would be a very irrational choice, but it will be quite an illustrative choice, because I suspect that ByteDance would operate as an extension of the Chinese government, and not as a commercial entity.”

The senator also called on the government to introduce new transparency requirements on TikTok and other platforms such as Chinese social media site WeChat, as recommended by a Senate committee investigating the risk of foreign interference through social media.

“They need to be transparent about the relationship they have with foreign governments and the directions they receive from foreign governments to interfere with the content on a platform,” he said.

“These recommendations are there for the government to implement at any time… I really hope they do.”

But asked whether the issue should be raised when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Canberra next week, Senator Paterson said it was “not a high priority issue”.

“The Foreign Minister (Penny Wong) and the Prime Minister have a long list of issues to raise with (Mr Wang), especially the death sentence facing Australian citizen Yang Hengjun.”

By Kylie Stevens for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 5:08 PM EST, March 5, 2024 | Updated: 5:36 PM EST, March 5, 2024

By Padraig Collins for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 5:47 PM EST, March 3, 2024 | Updated: 5:52 PM EST, March 3, 2024