China’s diplomatic freeze broken amid frank dialogue

Defence Minister Richard Marles scored an important breakthrough at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Sitting opposite his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, at dinner on Friday night, they agreed that the two nations should meet. China hosted their meeting on Sunday morning, breaking an almost three-year diplomatic freeze in Australia’s bilateral relationship with Beijing. ­The meeting, which lasted for more than an hour, was a “very frank and full exchange’’, the Deputy Prime Minister said, in which he raised issues of concern to Australia. These included the incident in which a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft intercepted an RAAF P-8 surveillance plane over the South China Sea in May. Mr Marles also raised 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”.

Given the complexities in the relationship between Canberra and Beijing, “open lines of dialogue” are important, as Mr Marles said. The meeting was “a critical first step’’. Trade Minister Don Farrell is also trying to meet his Chinese counterpart in an effort to end China’s two-year trade war against Australian exporters of coal, beef, wine, wood, seafood and barley. At the same time, it is vital that Australia continues to diversify its export markets.

Mr Marles referred to a “change in tone’’ in Australia’s relationship with China but said “there is no change in the substance of Australia’s national interest”. The Albanese government was not going to waver from asserting those interests “in the strongest possible terms”, including in the South China Sea and the Pacific. Australia would continue to uphold the rules-based order, including defending the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea.

The Shangri-La Dialogue, which is organised by London-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has highlighted complex tensions boiling close to the surface in the Asia-Pacific region. This was most evident in feisty, provocative speeches from the US and Chinese Defence ministers. On Sunday, General Wei told the Dialogue that China would “fight at all cost … fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence. His comments stoked already soaring tensions with the US. China views the self-ruled, democratic island state as part of its territory, awaiting reunification. “Those who pursue Taiwanese independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end,’’ General Wei said.

After almost daily Chinese aerial incursions near Taiwan in recent months, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in his speech on Saturday accused Beijing of “destabilising” military activity. The US remained firmly committed to its One-China policy, Mr Austin said, and did not support Taiwanese independence. But the US categorically opposed “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side’’ and stood “firmly behind the principle that cross-strait differences must be resolved by peaceful means’’. The US would assist Taiwan in “maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability’’. It would also maintain its own capacity, he said, “to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan’’.

During a recent visit to Japan, Joe Biden appeared to break decades of US policy when he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it were attacked by China. The White House later insisted its policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether or not it would intervene had not changed. On Sunday, Mr Marles said the Albanese government would maintain support for the One-China policy.

But Taiwan is a potential flashpoint.