Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang at a press conference  Photo: Foreign Ministry website

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday urged Australian media and institutions to stop hyping China spying cases and fabricating biased "China infiltration theories."

Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a routine press conference that the Australian media should respect the truth, abide by professional ethics and stop behaving irresponsibly and "doing ridiculous things."

China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs and advocates that different countries explore development paths based on their own situations, said Geng, noting that China sticks to socialism with Chinese characteristics and opposes any country interfering in China's internal affairs. 

"We abide by our words. Can the Australian government follow suit?" Geng said.

Some Australian forces and people had no intention of knowing the truth and ignored the official information issued by the Chinese side, making up absurd and flawed "evidence" to defame China, the spokesman said. "A lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie, which can only be tools of anti-China forces," Geng said.

Geng said some Australian people should not politicize normal communication on trade, education and technology out of political purposes and ideological bias. 

Stigmatizing the normal activities of overseas Chinese and Chinese students in the country and defaming their love for China have disturbed bilateral cooperation, which is against the global trend and justice and will ultimately damage Australia's own image and interest, Geng said. 

Geng also called on the Australian government to accept an objective and rational voice and clarify falsified accusations against China in order to promote mutual trust and cooperation between China and Australia.

The ministry's comments came after Australian media reports about the alleged self-confessed Chinese spy Wang Liqiang, who has applied for political asylum in the country after leaving China with forged passports. Shanghai police said that Wang, 26, is an ex-con involved in a fraud case worth 4.6 million yuan ($653,000) and had been sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2016. 

Global Times


Newspaper headline: Australia urged to stop fake news of China infiltration