Lawmaker sorry for insulting China
Print Edition
AUSTRALIAN mining magnate turned lawmaker Clive Palmer has apologized for an extraordinary tirade on national television in which he called the Chinese “bastards” and “mongrels” and accused China of trying to take over Australia.
Following the volatile multimillionaire’s August 18 outburst on Australian Broadcasting Corp’s “Q&A” program, government ministers accused him of threatening Australia’s relationship with its biggest trading partner and distanced themselves from his views. Palmer, meanwhile, avoided commenting on the issue.
But yesterday the man who was elected to Parliament last September from his own Palmer United Party released the text of a letter to China’s ambassador to Australia Ma Zhaoxu.
“I most sincerely apologize for any insult to Chinese people caused by any of the language I used,” Palmer wrote in the letter, dated August 25.
“In keeping an open mind, I now come to the realization that what I said on Q&A was an insult to Chinese people everywhere and I wish to assure them they have my most genuine and sincere apology,” the letter said.
The tirade began when Palmer, 60, was questioned about a legal dispute between his mining company Mineralogy and its Chinese state-owned partner CITIC Pacific Mining. CITIC claimed in court that Palmer had syphoned off A$12 million (US$11 million) to fund his party’s election campaign.
Palmer, whose party forms a powerful voting bloc in the Senate with the support of four senators, said his companies were owed “about A$500 million by the communist Chinese government that doesn’t want to pay.” He said he was countersuing.
“I don’t mind standing up against the Chinese bastards and stopping them from doing it,” Palmer said, adding that his companies already had three court judgments against “these Chinese mongrels.”
He later explained on Twitter that his comments were not intended to refer to Chinese people but to a “Chinese company which is taking Australian resources and not paying.”
Following the tirade, the Chinese Embassy issued a statement describing Palmer’s comments as “absurd,” “irresponsible” and “full of ignorance and prejudice.”
The embassy said it received Palmer’s letter of apology yesterday.
In a statement, it said: “Palmer’s insulting remarks on China could by no means represent the Australian government and parliament, let alone its people. Ambassador Ma stressed that the Chinese people are never to be insulted. Any remarks attacking or slandering China would not gain support and were doomed to failure.”
It continued: “The healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and cannot be overturned by any individual.”
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