Neil Mitchell: Deputy Labor leader has been ‘extraordinarily naive’ about China

Neil Mitchell says Labor deputy leader Richard Marles has been “extraordinarily naive” about China’s role in the Pacific region.

In the wake of China’s security pact with the Solomon Islands, which has prompted concerns about the permanent establishment of a Chinese military base in the Pacific nation, Mr Marles is in the spotlight for his past comments about Chinese influence in the region.

In a 2019 speech at Beijing Foreign Studies University, he said China providing developmental assistance in the Pacific “was and has been a good thing”.

“The Pacific needs help and Australia needs to welcome any country willing to provide it,” he said.

In a pamphlet published last August, Mr Marles wrote “basing our actions in the Pacific on an attempt to strategically deny China would be a historic mistake”.

Neil Mitchell says the comments show “extraordinary naivety” from Mr Marles.

“He’s painting China as a benevolent uncle who wanders around the Pacific throwing fistfuls of money at people just to be nice,” he said.

“Rubbish! They throw money around the world to buy influence, to buy countries. Look at Sri Lanka and their port, look at parts of Africa and the Belt and Road.

“It is an issue which goes to the heart of the future of this country.”

Press PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell’s thoughts on Mr Marles’ comments

Liberal senator James Paterson, who is chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, says Mr Marles should retract his comments.

“Richard Marles’ comments were wrong, that they were mistaken. He should apologise for them and retract them and say that in fact China is our strategic competitor in the pacific and it is not in our national interest to encourage them into the pacific and to establish military bases,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“This just shows how naive he is. I mean, Australian intelligence has warned for years that it was an objective of the Chinese government to establish a military presence in the region, and Richard Marles was out there blithely denying that was a risk at all.”

Press PLAY below to hear what James Paterson is calling on Richard Marles to do now

Image (Marles): Martin Ollman/Getty Images