China slams 'irresponsible' Australia over neighbour's first Covid outbreak
China has lashed Australia for potentially spreading Covid-19 to the Kingdom of Tonga in providing foreign aid after the nation's recent volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Tonga went into lockdown from 6pm on Wednesday after five cases were detected in the community. They are Tonga’s first cases of community transmission and two were asymptomatic aid workers working at the Queen Sālote Wharf.
The island nation is recovering from the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano, 65km north of the capital Nuku’alofa on January 15.
Australia has committed $3 million to the recovery effort.
Last week, 23 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were detected on board Australia's HMAS Adelaide, which arrived in Tonga to deliver aid supplies. The ship is currently suffering a power outage.
Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University, told Chinese state-run newspaper The Global Times, Australia is “showcasing itself” without considering Tonga’s best interests.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton told reporters on Tuesday steps are being taken to mitigate the risk of spreading infections, such as spraying equipment and offering contactless aid delivery.
The Global Times, on the other hand, said Mr Dutton's words were "hardly convincing" and called Australia’s aid “irresponsible”.
"Since you are offering foreign aid, it is important to prioritize the wellbeing and safety of the people you mean to help. But the Australian government totally disregards that," Mr Chen told the paper.
“...Australia and other Western countries are clearly short in prudency."
'Won't make that much of a difference'
Marian Kupu, a journalist in Tonga, told Yahoo News Australia there aren’t any concerns of foreign aid at this stage spreading infections in the community.
She added it was confirmed no infections came from the Australian aid ship.
“We’ve been having flights and shipments from outside since Covid started around the world, so we’ve been taking precautions ever since. I think having the supplies and aid for the tsunami won’t make that much of a difference because we’ve been having imports and exports over the past few years,” Kupu said.
China vs Australia: The battle for Pacific power
The criticism from China is just another chapter in the ongoing war of words between the two nations.
Sources in China told The Global Times in July last year Australia had been blocking China’s vaccine offerings to Papua New Guinea.
The state-run publication said Canberra was attempting to stamp its authority in the region by enforcing its own vaccines on PNG and other Pacific nations. A source claimed Australia had threatened to cut investment in PNG if it welcomed Chinese vaccines.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused Australia of “political manipulation and bullying coercion”.
Dr Tess Newton Cain, Project Lead at Griffith Asia Institute's Pacific Hub, told Yahoo News Australia the vaccine has been used as "diplomatic capital on all sides".
"Everyone is using it as a way of projecting their diplomatic profile into the region," she said.
Much of the ongoing bad blood between China and Australia stems back to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the early stages of 2020.
Australia called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 with the belief it may have originated from China.
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