Australian Prime Minister John Morrison on Thursday (April 15) criticized authoritarian rule and warned that the world is now at risk of a “great polarization” between authoritarianism and democracy.
Morrison spoke by video at the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral forum focusing on geopolitics and economics in India. He said, “Our world is at risk of moving toward a great polarization between an authoritarian regime and an authoritarian regime and the liberal democracies that we love.”
Morrison added, “Economic coercion is being used as a means of governing. The rules and norms of liberalism are under attack.”
Morrison did not mention a specific country, but relations between China and Australia are currently strained. Following Australia’s request last year for an international investigation into the source of the new coronavirus, China imposed a series of economic “punitive measures” on Australia, which some have called “economic coercion.
China has done this by restricting imports of some products and imposing punitive tariffs that have affected Australian products such as beef and wine.
China has responded to what it calls “economic coercion” against Australia. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the root cause of the current difficult situation in China-Australia relations is that Australia has taken wrong words and actions on issues related to China’s sovereignty and development interests, undermining the foundation of mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries.
Morrison warned that tensions over territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are rising, military modernization is taking place “at an unprecedented pace” and “sovereign democracies are being threatened and coerced by foreign intervention, and cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, including from state-sponsored actors. Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, including from state-sponsored actors.”
He added that the new crown epidemic has accelerated and exacerbated many of the strategic trends “that have created this very real tension,” and “yet the epidemic has also given us a new perspective and created new opportunities to establish a lasting strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Australian prime minister also referred to Australia’s relationship with India in his speech, saying India is a friend of Australia and “will help us build a region where all nations can prosper.”
Former Australian Defense Minister Christopher Pyne said this week that the likelihood of a war involving China in the Indo-Pacific region was rising sharply, warning that Taiwan could be the next flashpoint.
In a speech at the University of Adelaide, Pyne said China’s “strategic posture is not as benign as it has been in the past” and that this is unsettling for the U.S. and its allies, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
He also said that the possibility of a “hot war” in the Indo-Pacific region is now elevated. He said, “Five years ago, I would have said it was very unlikely, and now I would have to say it’s more likely than it was then.”
Pyne reportedly said, “This is not a cyber war, but a real war involving human casualties, destruction of military platforms and both aggressors and defenders.”
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