Chinese state media mocks Australia: 'How much left to lose?'

Chinese state media has mocked Australia's insistence on protecting the country's sovereignty, questioning if it has any to lose. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and multiple cabinet ministers have repeatedly stressed it will not kowtow to Beijing's demands in expense of its own sovereignty as Sino-Australian relations continue to struggle.

Last month, Defence Minister Peter Dutton, whose ongoing campaign to highlight China's supposed threat in the Indo-Pacific has enraged Beijing, said China has issued demands Australia will never meet.

"The Chinese government has delivered to Australia a list of 14 requirements for us to meet before that relationship is normalised including giving up essentially freedom of speech, and many of our democratic rights which we will never do as a sovereign nation," he told ABC's 7.30.

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