Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne recently said in an interview that the U.S. Biden administration had shown support for Australia by assuring that it would not give the Chinese side any chance to improve relations until Beijing stopped its economic coercion of Australia. Payne also revealed that she had again approached Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in recent months to restart dialogue, but the latter did not respond. Payne reiterated Australia’s position that it would not abandon important principles and values in order to restart talks.
In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Kurt Campbell, the U.S. White House National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, said the Biden Administration has told the Chinese Communist authorities that “we will not leave Australia alone.” Campbell said, “We have made it clear that the United States is not prepared to improve the bilateral relationship or to deal with it alone while a close ally is under some form of economic coercion.” He added that China’s “economic coercion” against Australia has been mentioned in every meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials and “will be highlighted in bilateral interactions in Anchorage later this week.”
Payne commented that “we very much welcome this (U.S.) administration’s approach to working with allies and partners. Payne said, “So I absolutely agree with and welcome Campbell’s comments. We’ve been with the United States and they’ve been with us. Campbell’s statement was very clear and unambiguous about the importance of allies and partners, and we very much acknowledge and appreciate his statement.” Payne said the Morrison administration has developed a close relationship with the newly inaugurated Biden administration. She gave examples of talks between Morrison and Biden, between himself and U.S. Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Adviser Sullivan, and between U.S. and Australian finance ministers.
The dispute between China and Australia now encompasses trade areas such as beef, barley, wine and coal, following diplomatic disputes such as the New Crown virus traceability investigation, human rights and key national security decisions. In addition to demanding an investigation into the source of the virus, Australia has angered Beijing by enacting foreign interference laws, banning tech giant huawei‘s 5G and blocking foreign investment deals involving national security issues. More than a year after Chinese officials refused to return calls to visit Australian trade ministers and other officials, Payne said she welcomed the resumption of dialogue between the two sides at the ministerial or leadership level. She stressed, however, that Australia would not trade any principles or values to achieve that goal.
“This government has a fundamental set of principles and democratic values that underpin our response in the national interest, and they will never be abandoned,” Payne said. She continued, “I am always open to appropriate dialogue, and I have always encouraged dialogue. Over the past few months, I have exchanged correspondence with State Councilor Wang Yi, which I think would be a constructive and sensible step, but ultimately this is a matter for our peers.” She said, “I would like to see active engagement, and we certainly have made an offer to engage at any Time.”
The Chinese Embassy in Australia submitted a document to the Australian media last year accusing the Australian side of “poisoning bilateral relations” in 14 areas. A Chinese official also said, “China is angry. If you make China your enemy, China will become your enemy. The incident caused a huge outcry in Australia and beyond. Payne reiterated that the Australian government will always fight back against foreign interference, reject foreign investment that is not in the national interest, protect the telecommunications system and preserve the freedom of the Australian press and think tanks. She said, “I think the expectation of Australia, no matter who it is, China or our counterparts in other countries, should be that Australia will always prioritize our national interests.”
Payne said, “It’s not ambiguous, there’s no question. It’s not something that we’ve been unclear about, we’ve considered it and said it consistently and calmly.” She said Australia wants to maintain a “rules-based global order” that ensures that “might does not make right and power does not mean everything.” She stressed that “we want to have a positive, mutually beneficial relationship with China, and that has been the approach of many governments over many years.”
Payne said Australia welcomes China’s rise and development, but with these advances comes “a range of responsibilities about how countries with great strength and power act in the international environment.” She spoke of “this responsibility about how to exercise strength and power, which I think is a very important issue for countries to consider, no matter who they are, no matter where they are. So we have differences of opinion with China, and we’ll make that very clear.”
In addition, Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan suggested in a separate interview that Australians should take comfort in the fact that the United States “has our back” in the deteriorating relationship between Canberra and Beijing. Speaking to reporters in Canberra on 20 May, Tehan expressed his gratitude to the Biden administration and said Australia wanted to resolve its trade dispute with China. He said, “I think all Australians should be reassured by the fact that the Americans have come out and said they have our back and they’re not going to leave us alone in the competition.” He said, “I appreciate the support of the U.S. government.”
Tehan also revealed that since taking over as trade minister last December he had made an invitation to the Chinese side for dialogue, but it was ignored. He said, “We’ve always said we want to have a very constructive relationship with China, and the complementarity between our two economies is strong, and the people-to-people ties are strong.
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