Wang Xining, whose decision to go on Q+A forms part of China's increasing efforts to counter criticism in Australia, made one clear misstep on the program.
The deputy head of China's embassy in Australia, Wang Xining, has appeared on the ABC'sprogram to defend the Chinese goverment's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its domestic policies, claiming most Western media criticism of China misleadingly focused on isolated "pieces out of a big jigsaw".
Asked by a Chinese-Australian woman whose father had died from cancer the previous night if the Chinese government was taking steps to ensure she could safely return home to spend time with her family, Mr Wang assumed she was talking about visa issues linked to dissident political opinions."I don't know what the exact situation in your family is, I don't know what is wrong with your visa problem.
The embassy official also faced questioning from the journalist, author and filmmaker Stan Grant, who drew on personal experience to contradict Mr Wang's claims of press freedom. Mr Grant described how Mr Wang led the Chinese government's censorship of foreign journalists when Mr Grant worked in China as a correspondent for CNN.
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