Allies show their hand on China

Britain’s strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific, announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday, sends a message that leaders in Beijing would be sensible not to ignore. So does the statement by Dr Kurt Campbell, President Biden’s top policy “tsar” in the region, that the US will not be prepared to consider any improvement in its relations with China until it stops its attempts to coerce and bully Australia. According to Dr Campbell, Mr Biden has advised the Chinese communist regime that “we are not going to leave Australia alone on the field”. The US President is said to have told Scott Morrison during last weekend’s summit of leaders from the four Quad countries — the US, Australia, Japan and India — that “we are not prepared to take substantial steps to improve relations (with Beijing) … until a more normal interplay between Canberra and Beijing is established”. Mr Biden has made it clear he is, for the time being, maintaining all the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.

For China, as it seeks an end to the debilitating trade wars and tensions initiated by Mr Trump’s imposition of $US360bn ($465bn) in tariffs on Chinese goods, the significance of Mr Biden’s statement cannot be overstated. Yet on Wednesday, official spokesmen in Beijing insisted that the “root cause” of the deteriorating relationship with Australia was “Australia’s wrong words and issues concerning China’s sovereignty, security and development interests which have undermined the foundation of mutual trust and co-operation between the two countries. The Australian side knows the ins and outs better than most”.

That is no answer to the Biden administration’s welcome stand in defence of Australia as a close ally. Neither does it show any understanding of the important rationale underpinning the Johnson government’s pivot to the Indo-Pacific. As Greg Sheridan pointed out on Wednesday, the British move is a further sign of growing closeness among the Five Eyes nations (the US, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand) on China. Mr Biden has made it clear the key difference between his policy on China and Mr Trump’s is multilateral consensus about how to handle Beijing’s bad behaviour and challenge to the rules-based world order, rather than going it alone in a bilateral trade war. The British regional pivot adds important heft to that multilateralism. So does Mr Biden’s commendable stance in making any improvement in US relations with Beijing contingent on President Xi Jinping being more sensible about Australia.