Yellow submarined: did Hong Kong trade office pressure Australian cultural festival to drop umbrella display?

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Hong Kong’s trade office in Australia has sought to distance itself from a brewing controversy over allegations that it exerted political influence on the country’s largest Asian-themed festival to pull a cultural workshop that featured yellow umbrellas – a local protest emblem.

The furore over the cancelled workshop was such that Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne waded into the fray during a Senate hearing on Thursday, saying Canberra would follow up on the matter.