Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari has been admonished by a senior factional ally and is facing further scrutiny after it was revealed he backed China's position in the South China Sea dispute at an event with a Chinese-Australian political donor who has previously forked out for his legal bills.

In a June press conference for Chinese media, Senator Dastyari pledged to respect China's position in the hostile dispute with other Asian nations and the United States, at odds with the Labor Party's position, The Australian Financial Review reports.

The senator is also reported as saying "the South China Sea is China's own affair", calling on Australia to remain neutral and drop its opposition to China's air defence zone in the region.

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke, a senior figure of Senator Dastyari's own NSW right faction, has now restated the party's "crystal clear" stance on the issue and Coalition minister Josh Frydenberg labelled the reports "very worrying". </s> Labor Senator Sam Dastyari appeared to contravene his party's policy on the international dispute over the South China Sea at a press conference in Sydney with a Chinese donor who paid some of his travel expenses, it has been reported.

During the press conference, Dastyari also advised Australia to drop its opposition to China's air defence zone in the region where tempers have been fraying over the disputed waters, the Financial Review reports.

Dastyari's views, which were reported in the Chinese media, directly clash with his party's official stance on the issue which opposes China's aggressive sabre rattling over the South China Sea.

It was reported that the moves tried to get Australia's support toward's China's controversial position on the South China Sea issue, with the outgoing US Ambassador to Australia John Berry wary of the implications.

For this reason Berry urged Australia to be more vigilant when it came to transparency around political donations.

But Senator Dastyari has already been called the 'Manchurian candidate' by Senator Cory Bernardi after he admitted in the Senate he was wrong to ask Minshen Zhu of Top Education Institute, to pay an expenses bill of $1,670 for him.

The senator did so because he had exceeded his publicly funded travel entitlements, but to counteract this Dastyari said he had instead donated the amount to charity.

Articles in the Chinese media have emerged revealing that at the June 17 campaign press conference Senator Dastyari made it clear he would respect China's stance on the South China Sea.

Political donor and philanthropist Huang Xiangmo was also pictured attending the Sydney get-together beside Senator Dastyari. He had complained that Australian MPs were not delivering on donations from the Chinese community.

'The South China Sea is China's own affair. On this issue, Australia should remain neutral and respect China's decision,' Mr Huang said. </s> Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping early on Sunday.

The two top officials met on the sidelines of the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city of Qingdao.

The two top executives highlighted the strengthening of bilateral ties and developing economic and political cooperation between Tehran and Beijing.

The two also exchanged views on issues of mutual interests and the avenues of bilateral cooperation as well as the case of the JCPOA- AKA the Iran nuclear deal- which both Iran and China are signatory states of.

After US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement on May 6, all heads of states of signatory states but US has reassured Tehran that they will remain committed to the landmark agreement of July 14, 2015.

Prior to meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Rouhani held one-on-one meetings with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, President Rouhani held separate bilateral meetings with the presidents of Pakistan, Russia, Belarus, and Afghanistan.

Rouhani is in China to take part at the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit where he is scheduled to deliver a speech on the prospect of expansion of cooperation among the SCO member states and the future of the JCPOA after the US pullout.

The Iranian president is accompanied by high-ranking political and economic figures including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, Minister of Economy Masoud Karbasian, Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohammad Nahavandian, and Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif.

Mr. Rouhani is slated to leave the Chinese port city of Qingdao for Iranian capital city of Tehran late on Sunday. </s> FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a joint press conference at the Istana Presidential Palace in Singapore,

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will join the United States in a coalition of countries protecting oil tankers and cargo ships from threats posed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months after a series of Iranian attacks on international merchant vessels and the seizure of a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which almost a fifth of the world's oil passes.

"This destabilizing behavior is a threat to Australia's interests in the region," Morrison told a news conference in Canberra.

"The government has decided that it is in Australia's national interest to work with our international partners to contribute. Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound," he said.

Morrison said Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane to the Middle East for one month before the end of 2019, while an Australian frigate will be deployed in January 2020 for six months.

Australia's deployment will expand U.S-led efforts to secure the strait, which lies between Oman and Iran, after tensions spiked between Iran and the West.

Washington, which has by far the strongest Western naval contingent in the Gulf, has been calling for its allies to join it in an operation to guard shipping.

However, European countries, which disagree with a U.S. decision to impose sanctions on Iran, have been reluctant to sign up to a U.S.-led mission for fear of adding to tension in the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in 2018 from an international deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Trump then applied widespread sanctions in May designed to block all of Iran's oil exports, the lifeblood of Tehran's economy. Iranian officials denounced the new penalties as "economic warfare".

Canberra, although keen to avoid stoking tensions, was widely expected to join the U.S.-led maritime coalition.

Australia is a staunch ally of the United States, which in recent months has called on its partners to do more to defend global security. </s> Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government faces a crucial by-election that could weaken its grip on power, said on Tuesday Canberra was open to recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and shifting its embassy there.

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government faces a crucial by-election in four days, said on Tuesday Canberra was open to recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, prompting concern from Indonesian and Palestinian officials.

Morrison's comments about recognising Jerusalem and possibly moving Australia's embassy there, just like U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial decision in December, would reverse decades of foreign policy and inflame tension with some of Australia's Asian neighbours.

Australia is due to a sign a trade deal this year with

Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, where the Palestinian question is a sensitive issue and tens of thousands protested against Trump’s decision.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, speaking at a joint news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Jakarta, reaffirmed Indonesia's support for a two-state solution to the Middle East dispute and warned Australia against the risk of insecurity.

"Indonesia asks Australia and other countries to support peace talks ... and not take steps that would threaten that peace process and stability of world security," Marsudi said.

Morrison told parliament on Tuesday he had been in touch with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to explain his position.

Maliki said he was saddened that Australia might violate international law and disrespect a U.N. Security Council resolution.

"They are risking Australia's trade and business relationship with the rest of the world, in particular (the) Arab and Muslim world," he said.

Ambassadors from 13 Arab countries met in Canberra on Tuesday and agreed to send a letter to Australia's foreign minister expressing their concern, Egyptian ambassador to Australia Mohamed Khairat said.

Morrison's openness to recognising Jerusalem and moving Australia's embassy there comes four days before a by-election in Sydney at which his centre-right coalition runs the risk of losing its tenuous hold on power.

The by-election is in the Sydney harbourside seat of Wentworth vacated by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who was ousted in a party-room coup by members of Morrison's Liberal party, the senior partner in a Liberal-National coalition, in August.

Census figures show 12.5 percent of people in Wentworth are Jewish, a significantly larger proportion than elsewhere in Australia. The Liberal candidate contesting the by-election on Saturday, Dave Sharma, is a former Australian ambassador to Israel who has floated the idea in the past.

Morrison will have to negotiate with independent lawmakers in order to continue governing in a minority if the coalition loses Saturday's by-election.

Morrison said earlier on Tuesday the political orthodoxy that drove such debates suggested that discussion of the Israeli capital was "taboo". He said no decision had been made and he was simply being open to the suggestion.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper described his apparent change of heart as "unprincipled and craven".

University of Sydney political analyst Rod Tiffen said the shift in position was being driven by domestic politics.

"It's a big change, it is out of step with everyone, except America," said Tiffen.

"But three days out from the Wentworth by-election, it's pretty blatant ... to the extent that there is a Jewish vote there, it probably helps."

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, as its capital.

Trump's decision in December enraged Palestinians and upset the Arab world and Western allies. Australia refused to follow its closest ally's example and has so far kept its mission in Tel Aviv.

The apparent change of policy was welcomed by Israel but swiftly criticised by Palestinian representatives.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Morrison had telephoned to explain his shift, said on Twitter he was "very thankful" Morrison was considering the move.

Palestinians, with broad international backing, want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Peace talks between the parties broke down in 2014.

The U.S. Embassy became the only foreign embassy in Jerusalem in May, but Netanyahu has attempted to persuade others to follow suit. </s> SINGAPORE: Attempts by China to exert influence in Australia are posing a threat to the nation’s sovereignty, according to an investigation released in articles and television programmes by Fairfax Media and ABC.

The joint Fairfax Media-ABC investigation, which was released on Monday (Jun 5), claimed that Beijing is active in Australia across a wide span of areas, from Chinese-linked donations to Australian politicians to threats to Australia-based Chinese dissidents and involvement with Chinese student associations.

Over the course of five months, the investigation said it uncovered how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was “secretly infiltrating Australia”.

According to the ABC, business leaders “allied to Beijing” are using donations to major political parties in Australia to “buy access and influence, and in some cases to push policies that may be contrary to Australia’s national interest”.

The report focused on two Chinese-born billionaires who were featured in a diagram drawn up by analysts working for the director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Duncan Lewis, which showed the Chinese Communist Party connected with lines to the two men.

The diagram was reportedly created for Mr Lewis to show senior officials of Australia’s major political parties and to warn them about accepting political donations from foreign sources.

''[Lewis] said 'be careful','' said a source who was aware of what Mr Lewis told party officials, according to the report.

"He was saying that the connections between these guys and the Communist Party is strong," said another political figure briefed about the content of the ASIO warning. ASIO also reportedly warned that the donors could be channels to advance Beijing's interests.

Mr Lewis reportedly stressed that neither billionaire was accused of any crime, but he sought to describe how Beijing coopted influential businessmen and rewarded those who assisted the Chinese Communist Party.

Outside of politicians and donors, the investigation also explored Beijing’s influence on ordinary Chinese living in Australia.

Some one million ethnic Chinese live in Australia and these people are targets of the CCP’s operations, either through influence or coercion, the investigation claimed.

The investigation explored the CCP’s influence on Australia’s estimated 100,000 Chinese students through university campuses and Chinese students’ and scholars’ associations.

These associations are “sponsored” by Chinese embassy and consular officials, the investigation said, adding that they are seen by the CCP as a way to maintain control over its overseas students.

When China’s premier Li Keqiang visited Australia in March, Chinese embassy officials reportedly played an active role in organising a big student rally to welcome him.

The embassy provided flags, transport, food, a lawyer and certificates for students to help them find jobs back in China, Lupin Lu, president of the Canberra University Students’ and Scholars’ Association, told reporters.

However, she said that “I wouldn’t really call it helping”, but that “it’s more sponsoring”, adding that fellow students were at the rally because of their pride at China’s economic success.

When asked by reporters if she would alert the embassy if a human rights protest was being organised by dissident Chinese students, she said she “definitely” would, “just to keep all students safe… and to do it for China as well”.

The reports also cited the experience of Tony Chang, a student at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who was granted a protection visa by the Australian government after threats to his parents who were back in China.

In a sworn statement to Australian immigration authorities, Chang said that state security agents in China had approached his parents in Shenyang to warn them to rein in his activism, citing his involvement in Tibetan independence organisations and Chinese democracy movement organisations.

“The SBSS (Shenyang Bureau of State Security) agents pressed the point that my parents must ask me to stop what I am part taking (sic) in and keep a low profile in the coming days. The reason is that they were anticipating that I would be involved in Tiananmen Square Massacre remembrance events, and the fact that the Dalai Lama would be coming to Australia,” Chang said in his statement.

“This act of a direct threat by the SBSS solidifies my belief that if I return to China I will undoubtedly suffer serious harm at the hands of the Chinese government, which will amount to persecution.”

Don Ma, the owner of the independent Vision China Times publication, reportedly had 10 advertisers pull their advertising after being threatened by Chinese officials.

According to the investigation, this included a company whose Beijing office was visited every day for two weeks by China’s Ministry of State Security until it cut ties with the Vision China Times.

"I felt that the media here, all the Chinese media, was being controlled by overseas forces," Ma said in the reports.

"This is harmful to the Australian society. It is also harmful to the next generation of Chinese. Therefore, I felt I wanted to invest in a truly independent media that fits in with Australian values." </s> Accompanied by a political entourage, Zarif is due to attend the 23rd ECO Ministerial Meeting in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, announced Bahram Qassemi.

The Iranian foreign minister will also hold talks with senior Tajik officials and discuss ways to expand mutual cooperation, he added.

This is the second visit of Zarif to Tajikistan within the past few months.

In November 2017, the Iranian top diplomat visited the central Asian country as the first of its kind in the past couple of years.

Relations between the two countries took a nosedive in late December 2015 on the issue of the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan. While the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was considered by the Tajik government as a banned party, its leader Muhiddin Kabiri, who lives in exile, was invited to an international conference in Tehran, and this outraged the Central Asian state.

Tajik authorities said despite the fact that Kabiri was accused of organizing riots in September 2015, Iran invited him to the International Conference of Islamic Unity while he was seated next to the head of Tajikistan’s state-backed Council of Islamic Ulema and other members of the official delegation from Tajikistan.

Meanwhile, informed sources say the tension between the two countries goes back to earlier times and is in connection with the assets of Babak Zanjani, the Iranian billionaire who is in jail and was earlier sentenced to death.

Many believe Zarif’s visits to Dushanbe could be a serious step to mend Iran-Tajikistan ties. </s> As demonstrators shut down Hong Kong’s airport on Monday in protest against police brutality, Chinese official said “terrorism” was emerging in the city.

Meanwhile, on the ABC’s Q&A program, the “people’s panellist” guest suggested he shared China’s view, prompting one of the more cautious political discussions ever held on the show.

It began with the first question, from Drew Pavlou, a University of Queensland student, who said he helped organise pro-Hong Kong protests, and alleged he was assaulted and received death threats. Pavlou asked why no Australian parliamentarian had commented on the violence.

“Is this response a product of the fact that Chinese Communist party has systematically bought the loyalty of key government and non-government institutions in this country?”

No one really answered the question, but Li Shee Su, a semi-retired IT executive, was the first to respond.

Li said there was a bias in media reporting.

“I will give you a quick example. In Australia, when we catch people with bombs in the garages at homes, what do we call them? Terrorists. Correct. In Hong Kong, when you catch them with bombs and bomb-making material, what do we call them? Pro-democracy protesters.”

He later accused “another player” – foreign intelligence agencies – of organising the Hong Kong student protesters.

The two federal politicians on the panel spoke carefully. Labor’s Terri Butler and the Coalition’s Alan Tudge were at pains to say that Australia had a strong tradition of peaceful protest and it also had strong relationship with China.

Butler said when violence was conducted in a political context, it could have broader ramifications. Tudge said he was “reticent” to agree with philosopher and author AC Grayling that Chinese intelligence were planted among the UQ protest crowd.

Noting last week’s controversial column by Coalition backbencher Andrew Hastie, the second question also asked about China, specifically if Australia was “turning a blind eye” to China’s actions and increasing international power.

Tudge defended Hastie’s right to write a column, which had sparked division among the Coalition with its analogy about the appeasement of Nazi Germany.

“The main message from us as government representatives – he’s a backbencher entitled to put his view there – is we have a strong relationship with China still,” said Tudge.

“China’s growth has absolutely been in our interests … and we want to see the continued peaceful rise of China.”

Tudge said millions of people had been brought out of poverty as a result of China’s economic growth and Australia had also benefited, but China was still an authoritarian regime with different values on some issues.

Butler agreed Australia had a strong relationship with China, but that didn’t mean Australia had to be reluctant to speak up about problems in the way China conducted its affairs.

Butler asked why the prime minister wasn’t being stronger on the issue of Hastie’s column – which she had not read – and “stepping up and dealing with this”.

Australia’s strong relationship with China was mentioned a few more times by the parliamentarians before Grayling said it couldn’t be passed over that China is one of the worst human rights violators in the world today.

“They are already a regional hegemony and they want to be a world superpower. You might say fair enough, that that’s OK, but look at their record, look at Tibet. They are oppressive. Their human rights record is appalling.

“This isn’t something that can be passed over in saying, well, we have an important relationship with them, we have to stand up and say we don’t like what they are doing, but frankly that isn’t enough. It isn’t fluff to say it.”

The conversation moved on to the safer topics of the general worth of democracy, Donald Trump, and finally, whether Australia could still be described as a modern liberal democracy since the government was so intent on shutting down transparency, access to information and press freedom, and had no bill of rights.

“To be honest … that’s a ridiculous question. To suggest that Australia is an authoritarian state is just frankly wrong,” said Tudge.

“We’ve got to put things in perspective here because Australia is still a magnificent democracy,” he said.

Butler said while it was hyperbolic to say Australia was an authoritarian state, “you must accept that hand in hand with concerns about democratic legitimacy are concerns about incursions of civil liberties”.

Historian and broadcaster Clare Wright suggested Tudge read the book by former human rights commissioner Gillian Triggs about the erosion of civil liberties. Tudge responded by stating the importance of “national security”.

“I think Australian citizens would be terrified if they actually realised how many of their rights have been eroded in the name of our freedom,” said Wright.

Tudge urged people to focus on “how great this country is”, noting Australia was a very popular holiday and migrant destination. </s> China is one of Australia's major trading partners and that relationship has seen us through the GFC and other economic upheavals. But does that mean we are too dependent on China? And what could happen to us if China's economy falters?

Is the Australian economy too reliant on China? 1:18

CHINA has lost its temper with an Australian senator, accusing her of attacking it with “unwarranted invective” and “blatant slander”.

On Friday, Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells issued a grim warning in The Australian newspaper, saying China was using “debt-trap diplomacy” to build its influence among the Pacific Island nations neighbouring Australia.

She claimed China was tempting poor countries with loans they couldn’t afford to repay — a strategy far less sinister than military expansion, but no less effective.

“Today, the sovereign threat is less confrontational but the debt-trap diplomacy just as insidious,” Ms Fierravanti-Wells wrote.

“Pacific countries need to use limited government reserves to meet their loan commitments to avoid defaulting. Domestic spending and important social programs are jeopardised.

“Consequently, the internal stability of these countries may be affected and greater demand is placed on overseas development assistance from countries such as Australia.

“In short, Australian taxpayers effectively will be subsidising repayment of loans to China.”

Ms Fierravanti-Wells has previously accused China of funding “useless buildings” and “roads to nowhere” in the island nations.

China has indeed showered countries such as Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands with loans in recent years. Between 2006 and 2016, it invested $2.3 billion in the region, according to analysis from The Lowy Institute.

But in a scathing response to Ms Fierravanti-Wells, China rejected any implication that its motives were not pure.

“The ridiculous and absurd allegation, filled with Cold War mentality, reflected the senator’s prejudice, arrogance and ignorance,” the Chinese Embassy said.

“The senator this time, in repeating the cliche of the so-called ‘debt trap’, attempted to prove her baseless accusations by quoting Tongan Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva and citing the case of Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka.

“Prime Minister Pohiva has already clarified his earlier remarks, making it clear that ‘China has never claimed to collect the debts or take the assets from Tonga in any way, and the governments of Tonga and China have maintained contacts regarding the repayment of the concessional loans.’

“Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, has also publicly stated that ‘Sri Lanka was not falling into a debt trap caused by high-interest Chinese loans’ nor ‘ceding control of strategically vital ports to Chinese control’.”

The embassy insisted China wished to help the Pacific nations “with no political strings attached” and said any attempt to stymie its efforts would be “doomed to failure”.

“One can never win respect by smearing others. Whether China’s assistance is productive or not, and whether it is a pie or a pitfall, the people of the Island Countries have the best say,” it said.

“Over the years, China has provided assistance to relevant Island Countries within its capacity and with no political strings attached, based on fully respecting the will of the Pacific Island Countries’ governments and people and taking into full account of their development needs.

“China has also actively carried out mutually beneficial economic co-operation with these countries. All this has effectively promoted the economic and social development of Island Countries.

“Co-operation between China and the Island Countries is transparent and open. No one could deny the positive outcomes delivered by such co-operation with their assumption or imagination. Any attempt to obstruct the development of relations between China and the Island Countries is doomed to failure.”

This isn’t the first time China and Australia have sparred over the Pacific Islands issue. Earlier this year, Beijing’s state-run media went so far as to label Australia an “arrogant overlord”.

The biggest fear among China’s Australian critics is that it will use its financial leverage for nefarious means.

“Such indebtedness gives China significant leverage over Pacific Island countries and may see China place pressure on Pacific nations to convert loans into equity in infrastructure,” The Lowy Institute warned.

“It’s not win-win for China and the recipient, but simply win for China, which not only gets access to local resources and new markets, and forward presence, but can coerce the recipient state to pay a ‘tribute’ to Beijing by ceding local assets when it can’t pay back its debts.”
Iranian-born Australian politician Sam Dastyari pledges his support for China's position in the dispute.