![Julie Bishop. Her comments have sparked a war of words with Beijing.](/content/dam/images/g/u/x/m/o/8/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.guxjgj.png/1489458689182.jpg)
A Chinese government think-tank linked to the foreign ministry has lashed out at comments on Monday night by Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop, who suggested China was not fit to be a regional leader because it was not a democracy.
Wang Zhenyu, Associate Research Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, described Ms Bishop's comments, delivered during a lecture in Singapore, as "unacceptable" and "arrogant".
"This arrogant finger-pointing is not the East Asian way, which Australia is yet to learn in its course to sail into the Asian Century," he told the Australian Financial Review.
The attack followed a frank appeal by Ms Bishop to Donald Trump's new US administration not to turn its back on the Indo-Pacific, in which she used strong language to warn of the growing threat posed by China, especially Beijing's territorial ambitions in the East and South China Seas.
"If stability and prosperity are to continue, the United States must play an even greater role as the indispensable strategic power in the Indo-Pacific," Ms Bishop said, adding it was "uniquely placed to do so" having no territorial disputes in the region.
"Critically, the domestic political system and values of the United States reflect the liberal rules-based order that we seek to preserve and defend," she said.
"While non-democracies such as China can thrive when participating in the present system, an essential pillar of our preferred order is democratic community.
"Domestic democratic habits of negotiating and compromise are essential to powerful countries resolving their disagreements according to international law and rules."
Mr Wang said Ms Bishop's use of the "non-democracy" label was an "attempt to isolate China from the regional community".
"The stereotyped mindset of the Australian government in managing its relationship with East Asian countries, including China, has not been changed," he said.
"This is the fence that Australia has built for herself and nobody can help her if she does not realise the need to break it."
"A paradox is that the foreign minister is using the excuse of democracy to maintain an undemocratic supremacy in the region of East Asia," he said.
"This is what the East Asian countries have been fighting against in the past decades."
Ms Bishop's comments came just ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Australia later this month.