Joceleyn Chey, 1 May 2020, where the title is “Who Would Be a Chinese Ambassador?”
I write in defence of PRC Ambassador Cheng Jingye, who is accused of threatening a tit-for-tat trade war. Cheng has been abused for this by commentators in the press, including Skynews Paul Murray on 28 April. If we follow what Cheng actually said in the original interview, we can see that he was cornered by a leading question. A more experienced diplomat might have been able to escape from such an awkward position. He was certainly foolish, but we should look at his entire statement and not take one remark out of context. It seems some people simply wish to ratchet up tensions between Australia and China.
