Australian minister accuses China of election interference

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior Australian minister is suggesting that China deliberately announced its security pact with the Solomon Islands during an election campaign to undermine her government’s chances of reelection. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews’ accusation on Wednesday is consistent with her conservative Liberal Party’s argument that Beijing wants the center-left Labor Party to win the May 21 election because Labor lawmakers are less likely to stand up to Chinese economic coercion. China and the Solomons announced their security agreement last week. Labor has described the Australian government’s inability to prevent the deal as its biggest foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War II. A senior Labor lawmaker dismissed Andrews’ accusation as “remarkably unhinged.”