BEIJING (Reuters) - An influential Chinese newspaper called for retaliation against Australia on Wednesday after Australian mining mogul and politician Clive Palmer described China's government as "bastards" who shoot their own people.
The Australian government has already rebuked Palmer for his comments, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she planned to contact the Chinese embassy to stress that the Australian parliament does not share Palmer's "abusive" views.
While the Chinese government has yet to publicly comment, a prominent Chinese newspaper, the state-run Global Times tabloid, weighed into the controversy, saying Australia should be taught a lesson.
"China cannot let him off, or show petty kindness just because the Australian government has condemned him," the newspaper said in an editorial in its Chinese and English editions.
"China must be aware that Palmer's rampant rascality serves as a symbol that Australian society has an unfriendly attitude toward China."
The Global Times is published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, and though it does not have the same mouthpiece function of its mother publication, its words can carry weight in government circles.
Palmer, who holds the balance of power in the Australian parliament's upper house, is locked in a legal battle with Chinese firm CITIC Pacific over cost blowouts and disputed royalty payments at an iron ore port in Cape Preston in Western Australia.
Palmer has already said his comments were not intended to refer to the Chinese people, and on Wednesday issued another statement saying he had been a "major supporter of the Chinese" for a long time.
"What is unacceptable is a Chinese state-owned enterprise that abuses the legal system for commercial gain in a global strategic effort to control resources," Palmer said.
China is Australia's biggest trade partner with two-way trade approaching $150 billion (90.34 billion British pound), representing more than 20 percent of Australia's total trade.
The Global Times said China should consider putting sanctions on Palmer and his companies and banning him and his senior executives from China.
"China must let those prancing provocateurs know how much of a price they pay when they deliberately rile us," it said, adding that Australia "must be marginalized in China's global strategy".
The newspaper, which has in the past locked horns with other foreign politicians, such as British Prime Minister David Cameron, implied that Australia did not mean that much to China in any case.
"Australia is a remote business partner, and a place where the Chinese can take a trip and learn some English. These basic understandings should be the starting points for China to re-orientate Sino-Australian relations."
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Jane Wardell in SYDNEY; Editing by Robert Birsel)
