Published by: World Tibet Network News, Saturday September 07 1996

By Mark Lever, AAP Diplomatic Correspondent

CANBERRA, Sept 8 AAP - The federal government's attitude to China is under fire again with a scathing attack on Defence Minister Ian McLachlan from the Canberra correspondent of the official People's Daily.

Li Xueijang released an open letter to Mr McLachlan blasting him for accusing China of being "assertive" and "noisy" in regional issues this year, such as the Taiwan Straits military exercises and the Paracels and Spratly Islands territorial dispute.

"To be frank, in my personal opinion, your remarks are much more assertive and much more noisy and what is worse they are obviously biased against China," he wrote.

While Mr Li portrayed his views as personal, the public attack from the Canberra representative of the official voice of the Communist Party is a setback for the government's efforts to improve relations with China after a rocky beginning.

It follows visits to Beijing by Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Tim Fischer in the past fortnight where they emphasised Australia's continued commitment to engagement with, not containment of, China.

Ties had been strained by a series of issues, including the axing of the Development Import Finance Facility aid scheme, this month's visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and a visit to Taiwan by Primary Industries Minister John Anderson.

Mr Li wrote a commentary in the People's Daily last month which also criticised the new government for substantially upgrading defence cooperation with the United States with a series of large-scale joint exercises.

Mr Downer and Mr Fischer said the defence issue was not raised in China, even after Mr McLachlan had hit back at the People's Daily critique on the eve of their visits by pointing to recent examples of Chinese posturing in an interview with The Australian newspaper.

Mr Li has now returned fire, ensuring that the US ties remain an issue even as China and Australia move to upgrade defence cooperation following the ministerial visits.

He said he agreed with Mr McLachlan that nobody was threatening China, noting that troop numbers had been reduced by more than one million.

"I am wondering why you did not tell the United States that nobody was threatening the United States," Mr Li said.

"In fact it is not China but the United States which has been 'much more assertive since the end of the Cold War'," he wrote, quoting Mr McLachlan.

Mr McLachlan had argued that the joint exercises with the US were long-established practice, but they could not be regarded as routine when those planned were the largest since Vietnam.

"Don't you think your neighbours have the right to ask what has happened in this region that makes Australia so preoccupied with its security issue and to ask what motives lurk behind the minds of some American strategists?" Mr Li wrote.