Does Tony Abbott get China? Challenge for next Australian leader
Favourite to win Australian poll is likely to cosy up to US, though he claims to know Beijing matters
If the polls are right, conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott will be Australia's next prime minister.
Abbott goes into tomorrow's election with little-to-no foreign policy experience, and throughout the campaign he offered few clues to his approach - especially regarding Australia's crucial relationship with China.
But strategic experts are pinning their hopes on Abbott emulating his political mentor, former Liberal Party prime minister John Howard. On Howard's first visit to China as prime minister in 1997, looking out over the impressive and expanding Shanghai skyline from his hotel, he is said to have asked: "How long has this been going on?"
Hugh White, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University, said Howard "got it" and acted to take Australia closer to China in the new millennium.
"The talk may have been all about the US and its 'war on terror' but Howard moved strongly to make sure Australia was in a position to take up the economic opportunities that China presented," he said.
"He would allow nothing to get in the way of a closer relationship with China and this transcended even his determination to go all the way with [George W.] Bush."
In October 2003, Howard even invited then-President Hu Jintao to address a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament, the day after Bush addressed it, which White said was "a stark and deliberate gesture".