File photo: Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia Julie Bishop/ VCG

Australia never regards Russia and China as its military threat, announced Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Monday morning, denying the China Threat comments by some Australian leaders.

Barnaby Joyce, Australian deputy prime minister, agreed last Sunday with the assessment of a newly-released 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) by the Washington administration in early January, which noted that China and Russia posed a great threat to the US. In addition, Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne also echoed Washington recently, saying Australia shared the same concerns.

Australia’s foreign minister made an announcement the next day to put out “fire,” declaring Australia’s position of never seeing Russia and China as a military threat, and expressing willingness to work closely with China and continue the military drills with China and other countries in the region.

Following the inconsistency among the remarks of high-level officials, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who declared he will stand up for Australia with tougher foreign interference laws in response to China’s criticism, noted that Australia does not view China or any neighboring country in the Asia-Pacific as a threat, but every country should plan in advance and arm itself for self defense.

The “anti-China” remarks by some Australian leaders have aroused attention in China. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised the related persons to refrain from those remarks that are detrimental to their own images and China-Australia relations, according to the regular press conference on December 11, 2017.

Earlier on Dec. 8, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang also urged Australia to shake off the Cold War mentality and immediately stop uttering false remarks that undermine political trust and mutually beneficial cooperation, and take effective measures to offset negative effects so as to avoid disrupting and impacting bilateral relations.