Barnaby Joyce urges caution after Richard Marles breaks silence with Beijing

Barnaby Joyce has accused China of using its military muscle to put “a foot on our throat” after a big meeting with Australia.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has urged caution after Australia’s first ministerial contact with China in more than two years.

His successor, Defence Minister Richard Marles, had a “frank” discussion with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Singapore on the weekend.

It’s the first time since early 2020 there has been any such high-level interaction between Canberra and Beijing.

Mr Marles said he raised the controversial attack on an Australian aircraft by a Chinese jet last month as well as broader issues in the Pacific.

Mr Joyce said while he welcomed the exchange, it did not change the hostile threat China continued to pose to Australia.

Defence Minister Richard Marles met with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore. Picture: Australian Department Of Defence / AFP

“They are a threat if they want to set up military bases near us and put lasers on to our Royal Australian Air Force patrols and if they want to put aluminium chaff into the engines, which could have brought down that P8 Poseidon aircraft with the death of the crew on-board, then that’s a threat,” Mr Joyce told Channel 7.

“I like the words, but let’s see the actions.

“The actions are that they stepped down from this forward push into our area, that they stop their military might that they’re using as a mechanism to put a foot on our throat – I’ll be as frank as that – to intimidate us.

“We’ve seen this before. We’ve seen the discussions, we’ve seen that everything is going to get better and at the same time they continue on with their plan in the background … (which) remains absolutely and utterly targeted, which is the domination of the South Pacific and the intimidation of us to work under their terms.”

Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said the Morrison government ‘stood up’ for Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Taylor

Mr Joyce held firm against accusations his government had made a mistake in putting diplomatic distance between Beijing and Canberra, saying the Morrison government had “stood up” for Australia.

“You have to stand up for Australia and you have to be honest,” Mr Joyce said.

His co-panellist, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, said Mr Marles’ discussions with China had been a step in the right direction.

“Talking is always better than not talking. It was a very important meeting,” Ms Plibersek said.

“It gives us the opportunity to raise some of these issues.”

On Sunday, Mr Marles said his discussion with Mr Wei – a side talk at the Shangri-La Dialogue ministerial conference in Singapore – had been a “critical first step”.

“It was an opportunity to have a very frank and full exchange in which I raised a number of issues of concern to Australia, including the incident involving Australia’s P-8 aircraft on May 26 and Australia’s abiding interest in the Pacific and our concern to ensure that the countries of the Pacific are not put in a position of increased militarisation,” Mr Marles said.

Earlier in the day, he had delivered a speech to the conference in which he called on China to be transparent about its military build-up and criticised Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea.

“Australia and China’s relationship is complex, and it’s precisely because of this complexity that it is really important that we are engaging in dialogue right now,” he said.

Former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson said he did not expect a major breakthrough in Australia’s relationship with Beijing.

There are still a lot of fundamental differences between China and Australia which the new government is fully aware of,” Mr Richardson told ABC Radio.

“I don’t think they will be looking for any startling breakthrough anytime soon.”

Mr Richardson said it was “nonsense” that Australia had not been able to talk at a ministerial level with China, considering other countries had maintained such communication.

“A lot of that has been because of what China has done, and not done it. I think it’s a very good thing that were at least able to communicate,” he said.

“The easiest part of any government is at the beginning. It is over time that the complexities and the difficulties emerge and the compromises you make start to catch up with you.”