Australia was once an outpost of “rascals and outlaws” but will soon adjust to the shifting realities of power, says a Chinese state-owned newspaper, which also has called Foreign Minister Julie Bishop a “complete fool"… The newspaper, owned by The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s self-described “mouthpiece”, was responding to comments made by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop published by Fairfax Media on Thursday.
Now, having had everything explained to them, Chinese officials accept Fairfax exaggerated what Bishop actually said - although that’s not exactly what Fairfax reports: On Monday, China’s most popular tabloid, The Global Times, blasted Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop as a “complete fool” for telling Fairfax Media that she would stand up to China in defence of Australian values… However, late on Tuesday night, on the eve of China’s highest-ranking general arriving to meet Australia’s top brass and Prime Minister Tony Abbott, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Ms Bishop said any of those offending remarks at all.
In a remarkable statement provided in Q&A form, the ministry’s spokesman, Hong Lei, suggested that it was Australian diplomats who had informed them that the interview was bogus...
Fairfax then runs the quotes from its interview with Bishop in a bid to establish that Bishop and the Chinese were wrong, and that it had faithfully reported the Foreign Minister vowing to “stand up to China”. Trouble is, the quotes Fairfax publishes do not show Bishop using such inflammatory language:
