China's ambassador to Australia has dismissed weeks of coverage of Chinese donations in Australian politics as trying to 'instigate China panic'.
Joint reporting by the ABC and Fairfax Media has made multiple allegations against Chinese businessmen and their multi-million dollar donations to Australia's major political parties.
"It alleges that the Chinese government was behind the donations made to major political parties in this country," Ambassador Cheng Jingye told a meeting of the Australia-China Business Council in Parliament.
"In Chinese, we call it 'cook up the overnight cold rice', which means repeating the same old stuff again and again."
He sounded a warning to the critics of China's foreign policy in Australia and overseas.
"We have no intention to impose our development model on others and, in return, we expect others to respect our own development path," he said.
Both the ambassador and Australia's Foreign Minister spoke warmly about the two nations' growing bilateral ties.
"This bilateral relationship between Australia and China is growing stronger day by day," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.
"It is multifaceted, although our economic ties are a standout."
"Apparently those [critics] are not willing to see the continued growth of the friendly co-operation between our two countries and two peoples," Ambassador Cheng said.
