Why so nervous?

It would be unfair to say, as some Chinese critics seem to suggest, that whole of Australia is suddenly into an anti-China campaign, by awarding some Xinjiang separatists a public platform after they masterminded a riot in Urumqi, capital city of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in early July. The riot saw the worst violence in that part of China in the last 60 years, although it lasted for just a couple of days, and order and peace have now been restored.

It would also be unnecessary, as reflected in opinion in some local media, to paint a Chinese diplomat's attempt to brief them about the realities in Urumqi as one to censor the Australian press. Diplomats talk. It is an established practice that government officials and diplomats explain a government's point of view to their audience wherever they travel.

When the Chinese-speaking Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visited China, he also brought with him criticism of this country. And, of course, for all the criticisms he made, he also did provide an explanation to us that he is by no means a Cold War warrior and China hater. The curious thing is that, from the often allegedly nationalistic Chinese press - and the Chinese Internet - not a single soul accused him of trying to influence China, although one may say that was exactly what he was doing, and on purpose. No one asked him to pull his head in.