Australian federal opponents are supporting political attack ads targeting MP Gladysriu of the Middle-Right Union during the campaign for Chisam’s marginal constituency in Melbourne.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasury Minister Josh Frydenberg have criticized the campaign as “racist.” This is because the relationship and defense between Australia and China leading up to the elections continues to be widely covered in national political discourse.
This ad, posted on social media, contains an image of Hong Kong-born Gladys Liu and is designed to qualify parliamentarians for national security.
“What do we know about the liberal Gladys Riu?” Read in one line.
“She spread fake news on a Chinese messaging app because donors were seen as a national security risk and her campaign tried to trick voters with election day signs in the colors of the Australian Election Commission. , She and the Liberal Party had to return $ 300,000.
“We need someone to represent Chisholm, who is diligent and sincere, not a trick. You deserve to be better than Scott Morrison or Gladys Liu.”
Centre-left Labor Senator Penny Wong and Shadow Foreign Minister defended the ad.
“Many of these issues were raised in Congress a few years ago. Senator Matthias Corman, then counterpart, attacked me and others for Liu’s ethnic heritage. I remember accusing her, “she told reporters on April 24.
“There were questions she should have answered at that time, and it is legal for them to be answered.”
The ad was in a 2019 news article that the Liberal Party had to return a $ 300,000 donation from a guest who participated in the 2015 Liu fundraiser after the Prime Minister’s Office was described as a security risk. Mention.
Coalition Minister Josh Frydenberg was keenly aware of his reaction to what he called an “desperate, dishonest, racist attack” against Liu.
“She is a proud Australian citizen and there is no advertisement for this racist attack by the Labor Party in our community,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was similarly criticized.
“She’s Chinese, so they chase after Gladys Riu,” he told reporters in Alice Springs. “They are engaged in what I think is a sewer tactic here.”
The increase in targeted threat ads is due to both Labor and the coalition working to secure marginal seats in Chisam, including one of the largest Mandarin-speaking populations in Victoria.
The coalition is one of the few voters in Melbourne who holds a seat with a very thin margin of 1.14% after the preference has flowed and the current administration is likely to win.
The advertising campaign will continue after the coalition has spent several months targeting Labor credential on defense and Chinese relations.
Just a week ago, it became clear again about Labor’s deputy leader Richard Mars and his attitude towards Beijing.
An Australian newspaper unearthed a mini-book written by Marls, where he advocated the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the South Pacific region.
“Australia does not have the right to expect a series of exclusive relationships with Pacific nations,” he wrote in “The Trends of Binding: Australia in the Pacific.”
“They (Pacific island nations) are free to set conditions with China, and for that matter, with other countries,” he writes.
Beijing recently signed a security agreement with the Government of the Solomon Islands. This will allow the Chinese administration, with the consent of the Solomon Islands, to dispatch police, troops, weapons and even naval vessels to “protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects.” Solomon Islands “, based on a page leaked from the document.
Experts warned that the agreement could open the door to rapid militarization of the region and extend the PLA’s reach from the South China Sea to the South Pacific. This is a strategically important location just 1,700 km (1,050 miles) from northern Australia. Cairns city.
follow
Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. He focuses on national politics, including federal politics, COVID-19 response, and relations between Australia and China. Do you have a hint? Contact him at [email protected]