A Chinese embassy delegation has lashed out at the Australian government for pioneering a global “anti-China campaign”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been forced to straddle Australia's relations with the US - its “greatest ally” - and strategic trading partner China during his state visit to America.
It comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the world must avert "a great fracture" of the two largest economies at the UN General Assembly in New York.
But Mr Morrison has downplayed concerns Australia is being torn between the increasingly rival superpowers.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference in New York, United States. Source: AAP
“I’m a lot more optimistic about it than that,” he told reporters in New York.
“We don’t have to see this in the great conquest of ideologies and belief systems - it is just the economy moving through a new phase and the international community adjusting to that.”
But a delegation of Chinese academics visiting Canberra has taken a much harsher view of Australia’s positioning of allegiances in the trade war between the United States and China.
Nine Newspapers reported on Wednesday that the Chinese embassy delegation accused Mr Morrison of speaking on behalf of “the US view through his mouth.”
East China University Australia studies director Chen Hong warned Australia's relations with China had entered "a very cold period" saying the country had played a "pioneering role in an anti-China campaign."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to reporters in New York. Source: AAP
He said Australian media accusations against Chinese foreign interference in the country had helped fuel increased government hostility.
“I think the responsibility is totally on the Australian side,” Dr Chen said.
“China always promotes friendship.”
While touring the United States, Mr Morrison has urged a re-calibration of the global trading system to treat China as a “newly developed economy” rather than a developing one.
"It is clear that global trade rules are no longer fit for purpose," he told the Chicago Institute for Global Affairs on Tuesday.
The position was mirrored by US President Donald Trump in his address to the UN General Assembly where he called on trade talks with China to “restore balance” and accused the Chinese of abusing trading systems.
“For years these abuses were tolerated, ignored or even encouraged,” he said.
From the delegation of Chinese academics, Chen Xiaochen, of Renmin University's Department of International Studies, said Australia should not be a “pawn” for the United States.
US President Donald Trump waits to address the United Nations General Assembly at its headquarters in New York, United States. Source: AAP
“That doesn't have to be the case, because Australia has got its own national interest to pursue,” he said.
"That is more important than sticking to its alliance to another country and trying to be a deputy sheriff for another country."
On Tuesday Opposition leader Anthony Albanese too questioned Prime Minister Scott Morrison's rhetoric over Australia’s largest trading partner.
He said Australia should engage with China without using “a loud hailer from the United States,” he said.
“Does he think that will be well received and will reduce tension between China and the United States over trade.”
But Mr Morrison has rejected this assertion, saying relations remain strong with its comprehensive strategic trading partner.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Source: AAP
“The world global economy and the biggest players in that economy have reached a new level,” he said.
“It just means that the global institutions and settings that sit around that have to be re-calibrated to recognise that.”
Foreign Minister Marise Payne met with her Beijing counterpart during the UN General Assembly in New York, their second such meeting in two months.
