Anthony Albanese’s China visit filled with trade wins, security risks and political backlash
Anthony Albanese’s week-long tour of China delivered some big wins for Australian trade and business – but back home, critics say the optics were indulgent and the risks too high.
National
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During the last stop on the final day of his China visit, Anthony Albanese is ushered into a room at the Cochlear factory he has been touring to witness a young hearing-impaired boy have his implant activated for the first time.
The private moment – free from cameras – is an emotional one for the Prime Minister, who had only hours earlier spoken passionately about the impact of the famous Australian invention that has already granted hearing to more than 55,000 Chinese people.
“It will be an incredibly proud moment for me … to witness that,” he says.
The Cochlear tour, like many of the PM’s business-related stops in China over the past week did not make the top of the 6pm news bulletin or newspaper front page – but it was one of many moments during the trip where Labor’s carefully calibrated diplomacy with Beijing is destined to deliver economic benefits to Australia.
As a business seeking to operate in the highly regulated markets of China, having the backing of your government is viewed extremely favourably.
The PM sitting down with Australia’s biggest iron ore mine operators, banks, universities, sporting institutions and tourism bodies and their Chinese customers and counterparts will deliver untold economic benefits in the future.
But as pictures of Mr Albanese and fiance Jodie Haydon walking the Great Wall of China in Beijing or visiting pandas in Chengdu beamed back to Australia, the PM came under fire back in Australia for his week long trip – two travel days and a five-day official program – being “indulgent”.
The parallels with the past visits of former prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke also gives Mr Albanese’s trip the whiff of a Labor pilgrimage that only adds to the perception he overdid it.
The PM points out his three-city tour is also a mirror of Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s own visit to Canberra, Adelaide and Perth last year – a mark of “respect” that on the face of it doesn’t “cost” anything.
The issue for Mr Albanese is that not so long ago more than $20 billion worth of Australian goods were locked out of China after Beijing put Canberra in the deep-freeze over a shopping list of so-called “grievances”.
Australia has not yet forgotten the harsh economic consequences of China’s unilateral actions blocking the trade of key exports like barley, beef and wine, but Mr Albanese is ready to move on.
“What we discuss is moving forward, is issues of today and tomorrow, rather than the past,” Mr Albanese told reporters when asked if he got the sense China’s leadership took any responsibility for the breakdown in trade relations with Australia.
It’s very clear from the statements made by Mr Xi and Mr Li that in Beijing’s fanciful view, it is as if the trade blocks had simply fallen out of the sky one day and “both” Australia and China had then worked together to remove them.
At a CEO roundtable held in the grand Great Hall of the People, Mr Li even joked that Chinese people were so happy to have access to Australian lobsters again they’d likely eat the delicacy out of existence with their enthusiasm.
He conveniently forgot to mention he was as a member of the government that barred their citizens’ access to the seafood – at great expense and heartache to Australian producers.
Even as the Albanese Government has negotiated the easing of those trade blocks, the security situation in the region has deteriorated.
Dangerous incidents like China’s People’s Liberation Army jets flying near Australian Defence Force aircraft, releasing a sonar pulse while navy divers were fixing a vessel in international waters and most recently conducting live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea with little notice have all raised fears about the likelihood of a more serious conflict arising from military misadventure or miscommunication.
Labor’s efforts on this front have not been entirely unfruitful – critical annual dialogues at foreign and defence ministry levels have now resumed – but as the Coalition has argued, “tangible” outcomes – like notification assurances – is now the next hurdle.
It is in this context that such a long visit to a country that has so recently caused economic damage and posed unnecessary safety risks to – that photos of walking the Great Wall or visiting pandas is liable to attract criticism.
National security expert and former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo says while the Albanese Government has got the balance right on the economic relationship, in his view the “symbolism” of the China trip is a problem.
Mr Pezzullo says ahead of the 48th parliament resuming next week, Mr Albanese’s “priorities” after a meeting with new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto should have been a face-to-face with Mr Xi and US President Donald Trump.
“It’s those private conversations that really matter, not the quick ‘I had a bilateral’,” he says.
It’s a concept tacitly acknowledged by Mr Albanese as he talks up the importance of having spent eight hours in total with either Mr Xi or Mr Li while in Beijing.
The PM insists he takes a longer view of his diplomatic efforts and goals than tomorrow’s headlines, and can point to a track record of improved dialogue, resumption of trade and release of unfairly jailed Australians.
During his visit it appears Mr Albanese is not the only one playing a long game, with neither Chinese leader directly raising concerns with Labor’s decision to return the Darwin Port lease to Australian hands despite state-owned media loudly criticising the plan.
This, Mr Pezzullo suggests, is a sign of Beijing “dialling up the charm” to emphasise how close Australia is in China’s economic orbit at a time when trade relations with the US are fraught.
But on security, Mr Pezzullo says he has long suspected China’s “view” of Australia is that if “push came to shove” and a crisis emerged, they “already know whose side we’re on”.
“So I don’t know that they would think there’s any value in them pursuing trying to peel us away in those (defence and security) areas, which means that for so long as things are relatively stable, then they’re happy to do trade with us,” he says.
“They’re happy to more deeply integrate our economies.
“But they know if things get to their worst state, we’re an adversary.”
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