Australian PM Scott Morrison will warn of China conflict and renew call for Covid-19 probe as he heads to G7

Since Australia-China ties began deteriorating last year, Morrison has become a vocal proponent of bolstering partnerships between ‘like-minded democracies’

Australian exporters are increasingly concerned that Morrison’s government is making public statements that seem to be stoking tensions with China

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:15am, 9 Jun 2021Updated: 10:20am, 9 Jun 2021

As deteriorating geopolitical tensions with China spill into trade reprisals, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will head to the UK to meet global leaders this week with a message: there’s strength in numbers.

“We are far from isolated – we have worked hard to ensure we are not a nation that can be easily marginalised and driven to unacceptable compromises,” Morrison is expected to say in a speech in Perth on Wednesday, before he heads overseas to attend the G7 leaders’ summit. “Despite opposition, our network of global and regional relationships vital to our national interest continues to accelerate.”

Since Australia-China relations went into a tailspin after Morrison’s government last year called for Beijing to allow independent investigators to probe the origins of the pandemic, he’s become a vocal proponent of bolstering partnerships between what he calls “like-minded democracies”.

Australia has pushed the Quad security relationship, which includes key ally the US as well as Japan and India, to act as a counter against what it sees as China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. At the same time, the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network has increasingly issued joint statements against Beijing’s alleged human rights abuses.

Morrison, who will be an invited guest of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson along with leaders of India, South Africa and South Korea, will be aiming for his message to resonate with the other attendees of the G7, many of whom have had their own clashes with China in recent years.

The trip will include Morrison’s first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden. Morrison is set to welcome Biden’s focus on the Indo-Pacific region and offer strong support for his recent call to bolster and accelerate efforts to identify the origins of the pandemic, according to extracts of his speech to be delivered in Perth.