A local Australian politician has expressed her regret in bowing to Chinese political influence during a recent meeting. According to a breaking report, a Melbourne councilor has expressed that she regrets that she was recently stopped from proceeding with an important motion in the council by Chinese ‘political influence’.
Cr Jackie Watts from Melbourne said that she was dissuaded from proceeding with a motion on June 4 after what she believed was “political influence” from the Chinese Consulate, which triggered “acute distress” in some of her colleagues, according to the Age report on Thursday. When confronted with this distress, she said she was dissuaded from proceeding with the motion just minutes before the meeting started, it added.
Cr Watts says that to stay silent and allowing the political influence to take its effect in our city is very much contrary to the values of democracy that we hold dear. She explained that even though she had been planning to move a ‘simple and respectful’ motion to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, she was suppressed and ultimately led to changing her conduct. She told that the matter is a huge issue.
It has very clear of Chinese pressure working out in many of foreign countries. Particularly in Australia, right from Prime Minister to councilors, they are repetitively being barred from meeting influential people critical of Chinese regime, such as the exile Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibetan President in exile, Dr. Lobsang Sangay and others.
The councilor said that the incident raised an important question on the conduct of council. She said that her intention in making this personal statement is to ensure that this regrettable incident of overt political influence fact is known in the public realm.
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