A furious Zhao Lijian, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson who infuriated Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year for his provocative tweet about Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, branded Mr Dutton's remarks as "extremely dangerous and irresponsible behaviour". "The Australian government official was openly hyping up the so-called China threat theory and wantonly criticising and attacking China. This fully exposed his Cold War mentality and ideological bias," he told reporters on Friday evening.
Mr Zhao reiterated Beijing's stance it has not done anything to threaten Australia's sovereignty, instead suggesting Canberra has sought trouble and conflict.
