Joe Biden’s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don’t want to be “trampled by a headlong clash” between the US and China. In a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners “breathing space” to engage with China constructively. Edgard Kagan, the NSC’s senior director for east Asia and Oceania, said Biden had been listening to the region’s concerns. “I think the president is very focused on the fact…
Tag: Australia news
Coalition says Anthony Albanese should not go to China until trade sanctions are lifted
The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, says Anthony Albanese should not visit Beijing until all trade sanctions have been lifted. Birmingham, a former trade minister in the Coalition government, said Australia “deserves to have absolute clarity that these sanctions are going to be lifted and that clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing”. “Why? Because China is acting very clearly in breach of its commitments to Australia,” Birmingham told the ABC’s Insiders. “China is acting in breach of its commitments…
Australia, India, Japan and US take thinly veiled swipe at China
The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima. The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”. “We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,”…
Don Farrell on the future of Australia’s foreign trade – podcast
Trade minister Don Farrell speaks with Guardian Australia’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst about the minister’s first visit to Beijing where he met with China’s commerce minister. They discuss the results of the meeting, and the implications for the future of Australia’s trade with China and beyond How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian
China’s ambassador to Australia says Aukus an ‘unnecessary’ use of taxpayer money and ‘not a good idea’
China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has denounced the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan as an “unnecessary consumption of the hardworking Australian taxpayers’ money”. Xiao said the multi-decade defence plan would consume “tremendous” amounts of money “which could be used for other purposes like infrastructure, like reducing the cost of living, and giving the Australian people a better future”. Xiao made the pointed remarks during a press conference at the Chinese embassy in Canberra on Thursday, when he suggested further improvements in the diplomatic and trading relationship were possible but would…
The cancelled Quad summit is a win for China and a self-inflicted blow to the US’s Pacific standing
The Chinese government is probably the biggest winner from Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, forcing the cancellation of the Quad summit in Sydney. Chinese state media outlets won’t need to muster much creative energy to weave together some of Beijing’s preferred narratives: that the US is racked by increasingly severe domestic upheaval and is an unreliable partner, quick to leave allies high and dry. To make matters worse for the US’s standing in the region, Biden’s planned visit to PNG…
Australia ‘diminished’: Penny Wong’s frenetic mission to repair regional ties
A year ago, Penny Wong claimed the Coalition had “dropped the ball” in the Pacific. Now, as she marks one year as foreign affairs minister, Wong says Australia’s relationships across the region were in an even worse state than she initially believed. “The previous government did diminish Australia’s influence in the region – and the extent of that was greater than I had anticipated,” Wong says in an interview. That’s something she has been trying to rectify through extensive travel across the Pacific and south-east Asia, intended to make a…
Don Farrell invites Chinese commerce minister to visit SA family vineyard after Beijing meeting
The Australian trade minister, Don Farrell, has invited the Chinese commerce minister to visit his family’s vineyard in South Australia after the pair met in Beijing on Friday night. Speaking after the talks with Wang Wentao in Beijing, Farrell said he was “very pleased to confirm that we agreed to step up dialogue under our free trade agreement and other platforms to resolve our outstanding issues”. Farrell said he had also received assurances from Wang that the recent deal to review China’s tariffs on Australian barley remained “on track”. Earlier,…
Australia’s trade minister says ‘de-escalation of rhetoric’ bearing fruit in trade spat ahead of China trip
Australian exporters are starting to see benefits from the “de-escalation” of tensions with China, the trade minister, Don Farrell, said on the eve of crucial talks in Beijing. Farrell will arrive on Thursday to press for an end to restrictions on a range of Australian exports – including lobster, red meat and wine – in the latest step to “stabilise” the relationship with Australia’s biggest trading partner. It will be the first visit to China by an Australian trade minister since Simon Birmingham travelled to Shanghai in November 2019. Farrell…
China accuses Australia of trying to sabotage its relationships in Pacific region
China has accused Australia of attempting to sabotage its relationships in the Pacific, saying Australia has a “cold war mentality” and is blinded by “ideological prejudice”. Senior Chinese diplomats said Australia has undermined Beijing’s security and law enforcement cooperation with Fiji, alleging its relations with Fiji are being “targeted” by Australia, the US and New Zealand. Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, came to power in December – after 15 years of rule by Frank Bainimarama – promising to scrap a 2011 police cooperation agreement which Fiji signed with China under…