Undue influence

Mr Richardson said Beijing had sought to interfere "unreasonably" in both the Chinese language media in Australia and in the Chinese community.

"Yes we should not have the overblown rhetoric ... equally, some of the activities we see are not activities that we should turn a blind eye to," he told The Australian Financial Review Business Summit.

"It is because of Chinese activities in Australia that the overblown rhetoric has come about."

As the debate over China's undue influence continues to rage in Australia and the government seeks to legislate against it, Mr Richardson's comments are among the strongest by someone so closely associated with the current administration.

His calling out of China's behaviour is likely to further anger Beijing at a time when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought to mend ties.

On Chinese interference, Mr Carr said the government had got itself into a "panic" about China and had now positioned itself as the "stand-out American ally when it comes to choosing an adversarial tone with China".

"We should correct policy before too long."


Mr Carr suggested the policy of former Prime Minister John Howard, whose approach to China was to concentrate on points of commonality rather than difference, should once again be adopted by the federal government.

"Let's arrest the panic, let's be hard-headed. We are entitled to have the anti-foreign influence legislation, I support it and I would go further on banning foreign donations, but the rhetoric has been sloppy and didn't distinguish Australian diplomacy," he said.

But this was quickly disputed by Andrew Shearer, a former national security adviser to both Mr Howard and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who said times had changed.

"It is getting more difficult [to run the Howard model] because today's China is much more powerful, it is frankly much more illiberal and it is getting much more assertive," he said.

"Ultimately there are going to be times when there is friction in the relationship and I don't think we should get too hot and bothered about that."

Mr Shearer, who is a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, noted Australia and security hawks more generally were not the only ones pushing back against Chinese influence.

He said push-back was coming from New Zealand, student associations in the US, academics in Australia and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The problem here is that China has a United Front global propaganda organisation and we are part of that and we are kidding ourselves if we think we are not," he said.


"It [China] is seeking to influence and in some cases interfere. The problem is when the influence slides over and becomes clandestine, corrupt and coercive."

Strategic interests

Chancellor Merkel reportedly told aides China's strategic interests in Europe have become her chief global concern and she was unlikely to leave office without having taken significant steps to counter them.

Ms Merkel has often been seen as a strong supporter of China and a leader with some of the closest ties to Beijing.

Asked about China's concerns on the move by Australia, India, Japan and the US to revive the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Mr Shearer said "we should not accept any other country having a veto on what we do with our friends and allies".

He said when Australia pulled out of the dialogue in 2008, "China rolled out this very assertive program in the South China Sea and the East China Sea".

Mr Richardson said it was "absolute rubbish" that Australia didn't have an independent foreign policy.

"I'm bemused by those who suggest we don't have an independent foreign policy but who want our foreign policy to be so sensitive to another country that it would be compromised enormously."