China envoy says Australia fired first shot with Huawei ban

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China’s ambassador to Australia says the then-Australian government fired the “first shot” in its deteriorating relations with China four years ago when it banned Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the country’s 5G network due to security concerns. Ambassador Xiao Qian gave a rare public address at University Technology Sydney on Friday. The address comes as China shows signs of thawing a diplomatic deepfreeze of Australian ministers following the election of a new government last month. Bilateral relations plummeted in 2020 after the previous Australian government called for an independent investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic. But Xiao highlighted the 2018 decision to block Huawei as a turning point.