China implores Australia to exercise 'less bias and bigotry'

The Chinese ambassador to Australia claimed that "less bias and bigotry" was required to repair relations between the two as concerns that China's influence in the nation continues to mount.

"We need to see each other's development and policy intentions from a more positive perspective with less Cold War mentality," ambassador Cheng Jingye said on Tuesday.

Frustrations between Canberra and Beijing intensified after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull claimed China was meddling in domestic affairs back in 2017, leading Chinese media to accuse Australia of being arrogant with its "distorted view on relations".

Despite Australian wine exporters being hit with blocks and delays last week when Chinese customs officials held up shipments, Cheng was seemingly willing to look past recent events after being introduced by former Australian politician John Brumby, a director of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies's Australian wing.

Cheng said he believed that, in order to achieve "sustained and sound development" in bilateral relations, both countries would need to have "more interaction and inclusiveness with less bias and bigotry".

However, having already denied Huawei a contract to provide broadband equipment to its national 5G network due to national security concerns, Australia also blocked the firm's plan to run internet cables from the Solomon Islands, north of Australia, to Sydney.

Julie Bishop, Australia's minister for foreign affairs, has said that Chinese lending in the Pacific would undermine the sovereignty of countries in the area.

"We're concerned that the consequences of entering into some of these financing arrangements will be detrimental to their long-term sovereignty," Bishop told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"We want to ensure that they retain their sovereignty, that they have sustainable economies and that they are not trapped into unsustainable debt outcomes. The trap can then be a debt-for-equity swap and they have lost their sovereignty," she said.