Australian lawmaker apologizes to China for tirade

Australian mining magnate turned lawmaker Clive Palmer has apologized to China over an extraordinary tirade on national television in which he called the Chinese ‘bastards’ and ‘mongrels’ and accused Beijing of trying to take over Australia. Following the volatile multimillionaire's Aug. 18 outburst on Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s ‘Q & A’ program, government ministers accused him of threatening Australia's relationship with its biggest trading partner and distanced themselves from his views. Palmer, meanwhile, largely avoided commenting on the issue. But Palmer, who was elected to Parliament last September from his own Palmer United Party, released on Tuesday the text of an apology letter to China's ambassador to Australia, Ma Zhaoxu. ‘I most sincerely apologize for any insult to Chinese people caused by any of the language I used,’ Palmer wrote in the letter, dated Aug. 25. ‘In keeping an open mind, I now come to the realization that what I said on Q&A was an insult to Chinese people everywhere and I wish to assure them they have my most genuine and sincere apology,’ the letter said. The tirade began when Palmer, 60, was questioned about a legal dispute between his mining company Mineralogy and its Chinese state-owned partner, CITIC Pacific Mining. CITIC alleged in court that Palmer syphoned 12 million Australian dollars ($11 million) to fund his party's election campaign, according to AFP.