China on Tuesday strongly criticized the Australian Strategic Policy Institute for fabricating and spreading lies about China, following the think tank's suspension of its anti-China "research" because of funding cuts from the United States.
An ASPI analyst recently posted on social media that the freezing of U.S. aid had left the organization without sufficient anti-China materials, making it difficult to produce content attacking China while urging the U.S. or other entities to immediately resume funding for its anti-China operations.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the post was a self-exposure of the ASPI's own scandal, once again revealing its "hypocritical anti-China nature" of manufacturing lies and smearing China under U.S. sponsorship.
"There is no credibility to speak of for this so-called institute," she said, adding the ASPI has received long-term funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, diplomatic agencies, and arms manufacturers, serving the interests of its financial backers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. government grants have accounted for roughly 10 to 12 percent of the ASPI's funding and financed about 70 percent of its China research since 2019.
In its latest annual report, the ASPI said it received nearly $1.9 million in U.S. State Department grants during the 2022-23 financial year.
Mao said the ASPI's "research findings" lack basic factual grounding, violate the professional ethics expected of academic research, and have repeatedly been exposed as disinformation.
She said she hoped that all sections of Australian society and the international community can distinguish right from wrong and collectively denounce and resist the ASPI's disgraceful acts of fabricating and spreading false information.
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