China-Australia relations: ex-foreign minister says Canberra must drop adversarial approach to fix ‘frozen’ relationship

Name: Australia ditched diplomacy for ‘adversarial approach’ to China and ‘a pat on the head’ from US
Uploaded: 2020-11-23T19:00:13.000Z
Duration: 7 min 55 s
Description: Australia ditched diplomacy for ‘adversarial approach’ to China and ‘a pat on the head’ from US

Ex-Australian foreign minister Bob Carr says Canberra’s lack of diplomacy while pursuing its national interests is to blame for its fraying ties with China

Carr traces Australia’s adversarial approach back to 2017, but says it culminated in a push for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus this year

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Australia ditched diplomacy for ‘adversarial approach’ to China and ‘a pat on the head’ from US

Su-Lin Tan

Published: 3:00am, 24 Nov 2020Updated: 9:50am, 24 Nov 2020

Only a herculean shift in foreign policy, a change of government or major external event will thaw a “frozen” relationship between China and Australia that has been damaged by a lack of diplomacy from Canberra that has compounded over the past three years, according to former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Carr, who was foreign minister from 2012-13, said it was not the substance of Australia’s actions – including calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and its ban on technology from Huawei Technologies Co. – that had damaged ties, but the lack of diplomacy with which Canberra pursued them.

Australia-China relations are frozen. We have no relationship, formal or informal

Bob Carr

“Both thrusts can be defended. But the diplomacy accompanying the decisions was spectacularly incompetent,“ he said. “Australia-China relations are frozen. We have no relationship, formal or informal. I’m not sure what our embassies do or can do.”

Carr, who was a politician with the Labour Party, said he supported policies that looked after Australia’s interests, but the current Liberal-led coalition’s adversarial approach had contributed to souring relations.

The two countries have been locked in conflict for more than seven months, with China taking a series of trade actions, including banning exports and applying anti-dumping duties, on Australia.

The Chinese embassy in Australia last week provided local media with a list of 14 grievances that had “poisoned” bilateral relations, including Canberra blocking Chinese investments, Australian politicians criticising Beijing and alleged racist attacks on Chinese and Asian citizens in the country.

Carr traced Australia’s adversarial approach to China back to “a flamboyant lack of diplomacy” in 2017, when then-Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull made a speech supporting US military build-up in the region, and former foreign minister Julie Bishop called for increased cooperation with the United States in the Indo-Pacific.

Speaking soon after Donald Trump became US president, Bishop said the US was an ally and “indispensable power” in the region.