Australian officials prepared talking points to help the government respond to sensitive questions about Tony Abbott’s trip to Taiwan, dismissing any suggestion the former prime minister’s visit represented a policy shift. Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the Australian government was drafting its responses to potential media questions at least a week and a half before news broke of the former prime minister’s travel to Taiwan. Abbott’s visit in October triggered a diplomatic protest from Beijing, after he raised fears that the Chinese government “could lash out disastrously very soon”…
Tag: Australian politics
Labor warns China it should not ‘take comfort’ from Russian invasion of Ukraine
Labor’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not embolden China’s regional ambitions as she called for the “strongest possible sanctions” against Moscow by the Australian government. While declining to comment specifically on whether events in Europe increased the likelihood of China moving on Taiwan, Wong said no country should see Russia’s invasion as “any justification” for challenging the status quo in the region. “It is the case that what is occurring is relevant to our region, is relevant to the whole world, where…
From a China frenzy to casual transphobia, PM is on the hunt for disaffected but highly motivated voters | Katharine Murphy
If you watch politics closely, you’ll recall this moment. In 2018, Scott Morrison draped his arm around Malcolm Turnbull and declared: “This is my leader and I’m ambitious for him!” Two days later, Turnbull was out and Morrison was prime minister. That moment popped into my head this week as I watched Morrison out on the hustings in Tasmania. The more recent circumstances were quite different, but the vibe was similar. Morrison was flanked by Bridget Archer, the moderate Liberal, who has made a name for herself in Canberra by…
‘Actively develop friendship’: China’s new ambassador to Australia strikes softer tone
China’s new ambassador to Australia has offered an olive branch in the intense diplomatic dispute between the two countries, saying they should “meet each other halfway” and “look into the future”. Xiao Qian, who arrived in Canberra in January after years of increasing tensions, said China attached “great importance” to the relationship and was willing to “actively develop friendship and cooperation with Australia”. The intervention comes just days after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, accused China of a dangerous “act of intimidation” over a Chinese warship’s shining of a laser…
Essential poll analysis: Coalition’s national security scare campaign may have backfired
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Scott Morrison’s China gambit is a Hail Mary from a flailing leader trying to galvanise fear | Peter Lewis
Scott Morrison’s efforts to politicise Australia’s complex relationship with China seems to be further soiling his own flagging reputation. Like a bull in the proverbial, he has spent the past fortnight bombarding the airwaves with hastily googled dossiers and cold war-era panics to suggest an Albanese government would become an antipodean branch office of the Beijing Politburo. Large sections of the national gallery have embraced his China pivot, breathlessly reporting the attacks on Labor, amplifying intelligence community blowback and catastrophising operational incidents that would normally demand sober assessment rather than…
China accuses Australian defence force of ‘spiteful’ actions after laser accusation
China’s national defence ministry has accused the Australian defence force of “spiteful and provocative actions” as it brushed off the accusation that its warship had shone a laser at an Australian surveillance plane. But the Australian government hit back on Tuesday, confirming that the Australian plane had dropped buoys in the water to detect acoustic signals but only after the laser was detected. It said the Royal Australian Air Force had acted “within international law at all times”. The Australian government had demanded an explanation from Beijing over a “dangerous,…
Laser incident involving Chinese warship most serious in growing trend, ADF says
The Australian defence force has confirmed an “increase in the use of lasers by some vessels” but regards the latest incident involving a Chinese warship as “more serious”, officials have revealed. Experts said the shining of a laser at an Australian surveillance aircraft by a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warship last week represented an escalation from a previous incident in the South China Sea in 2019 when Australian helicopter pilots were forced to land as a precaution. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said on Monday that “all the countries…
‘Act of intimidation’: Morrison condemns Chinese navy for shining laser at Australian surveillance plane
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared a laser incident involving a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft last week is an “act of intimidation” by China. Australia’s defence department reported a laser emanating from a People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel illuminated a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft last Thursday when the Chinese ship was sailing east through the Arafura sea. On Sunday, the prime minister characterised the episode as “a reckless and irresponsible act that should not have occurred”. Thursday’s incident in waters to the north of Australia followed days of…
Former Asio boss accuses Liberal senator of ‘grubby’ attack over Huawei comments
One of Australia’s most respected former public servants, Dennis Richardson, has accused Liberal senator James Paterson of engaging in a “grubby” and “despicable” attempt to blacken his name over comments Paterson made in an interview on Sky News. Paterson, the chair of federal parliament’s powerful committee on intelligence and security, argued in the interview on Thursday that Richardson, the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, had publicly advocated in 2018 that the Chinese telco Huawei should be involved in the Australian 5G rollout. Paterson described Richardson as a…