WA Labor Treasurer tells colleagues to lay off Gladys Liu

WA's State Treasurer has called on his Federal Labor colleagues to tone down their pursuit of Liberal MP Gladys Liu.

Ben Wyatt warned that the attacks on Ms Liu's links to pro-Beijing groups in Australia were bad for business in WA.

"I think every Federal MP needs to be very careful in the rhetoric they make around our relationship with China," he said. "I think our East Coast colleagues could pay some attention to what my [Federal] Labor colleagues [from WA] have been saying."

Ms Liu has been under siege after failing to declare her relationship with Chinese organisations involved in pushing propaganda for the Communist state.

But Mr Wyatt believes some in the Labor Party have gone too far and that his state's relationship with China was too important to undermine.

"These sorts of conversations I find have a habit of snowballing," he said. "We're seeing that now and I think everybody, including around the issues Gladys Liu has been facing, needs to take a breath, perhaps take a step back."

WA exports about $60 billion worth of iron ore to China and the McGowan Labor government in WA has forged even closer links with China since winning office in 2017. Both Mr Wyatt and Premier Mark McGowan say WA's economy is dependent on the Chinese.

"I am a very strong supporter of a strong relationship with China," Mr McGowan said. "I've been to China four times since being elected. I'm not going to get into any personality issues in Australia between some politician in Australia and what she might have been up to."

Ms Liu came under fire after saying she could not recall which Chinese-Australian associations she was involved in.