Why is Australia talking tough about major trade partner China?

Bob Carr says government leaders’ strikingly less friendly attitude in the past six months, as they draw closer to the US, reflects Canberra’s difficult balancing act of keeping relations with both China and the US on an even keel

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The words being used by Australian leaders are the harshest any time since diplomatic relations commenced in 1972, with the exception of comments at the time of the Tiananmen crackdown. The tone is harsher than that of any other US ally, including Japan. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 12:16pm, 22 Sep 2017Updated: 7:14pm, 22 Sep 2017

This year, Australia declared rhetorical war on China. The words being used by Australian leaders are the harshest any time since diplomatic relations commenced in 1972, with the exception of comments at the time of the Tiananmen crackdown. The tone is harsher than that of any other US ally, including Japan.

Ironically, the pronounced shift occurs in the six months in which Australian exports to China reached a record high, exceeding levels in the 2003-2012 resources boom and at a time when, according to one poll, 42 per cent of Australians think Donald Trump’s presidency is a “critical threat” to Australia’s vital interests.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop gave two speeches at the start of the year calling on the US to become more involved in Asia to counter China: “Most nations wish to see more United States leadership, not less, and have no desire to see powers other than the US calling the shots.”

To academic Hugh White, from the Australian National University, this sounded like a hankering for the old days when the US was the only power in Asia that mattered to Australia. It risks sounding like a call for containment, which up until now has not been indulged by Australian leaders.

On March 13, Bishop went further, stating that China needs to become a democracy if it is to reach its economic potential. Leave aside the fact China’s 6.9 per cent growth and seamless transition to a services economy contradicts the thesis, Australian leaders up until now have generally refrained from lecturing China’s Communist leaders about the merits of democracy.

As retired Australian diplomat Peter Varghese recently pointed out, values “should define who we are, not what we insist others become”.

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