Mr Garnaut’s appearance at the hearing late last week highlights Washington’s interest in Australia’s handling of Chinese influence, particularly under the Turnbull government in 2017, ahead of next year’s US presidential elections. He appeared alongside former Trump administration adviser Miles Yu and research director at Freedom House, Yaqiu Wang. It comes amid growing concern about foreign interference, particularly from China and Russia, in a series of key elections next year in Taiwan, Indonesia, India and the United States. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and other social media networks have also been criticised for spreading misinformation about the Hamas-Israel war,…