The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Michael Shoebridge says there is a “dog ate my homework” flavour to China’s recent rhetoric – which claims Australia is playing the victim.
It comes after a Chinese foreign affairs spokesman said the communist superpower’s measures against some imported Australian products is “in accordance with law and regulations” and a “responsible act” for Chinese consumers.
“For some time I have repeatedly heard some people from the Australian side claim to be the so-called victims, constantly accusing and attacking China by innuendo, which is completely making a counter-charge, confusing right and wrong. China will never accept this,” the spokesman said.
Discussing the spokesman’s comments, Mr Shoebridge said the problem is that “the individual words make sense”, but when they are put together in a sentence they are “incomprehensible”.
“I think there’s a ‘dog ate my homework’ flavor to all this, the Chinese government know they’re using trade as a weapon, but they can’t bring themselves to say it,” he told Sky News host Cory Bernardi.
“This is really Beijing talking to itself and looking embarrassing internationally.”