China overture welcome ‘but we’re not yet in tune’: Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese has indicated his government is in no hurry to repair ties with China, saying he will ‘respond appropriately in time’ to congratulations from Li Keqiang.
Anthony Albanese has indicated his government is in no hurry to repair Australia’s relationship with Beijing, saying he would “respond appropriately in time” to a letter of congratulations from China’s Premier, Li Keqiang.
The message – which Mr Albanese learned about through Chinese state media while travelling to Tokyo on the eve of the Quad leaders’ meeting – is Beijing’s first senior government communication to Australia in more than two years.
Australia’s new Prime Minister said he welcomed the formal letter from Mr Li, China’s second most senior political leader. “I have received, now, a letter of congratulations from Premier Li as I have from other world leaders and I welcome that,” Mr Albanese said. “We will respond appropriately in time when we return to Australia.”
He said the letter echoed words published by China’s state media, which said Beijing was ready to “take stock of the past and stay forward-looking”. Speaking to The Australian while walking to a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, Mr Albanese confirmed the “formal letter” did not include any proposal by Beijing to arrange a phone meeting.
Mr Albanese said he had received a “welcome message from Taiwan as well”, where he travelled on a parliamentary delegation in 2019, and messages from leaders around the world.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs assessed in 2021 that Beijing seemed to have decided to “wait out” the Coalition after its economic coercion campaign failed to change Canberra’s policy settings.
Beijing banned all ministerial contact with the Morrison government in late January 2020.
It also imposed trade strikes – which remain – on Australian exports previously worth more than $20bn a year.
Some Australian foreign policy experts have cautioned the Albanese government not to rush any outreach by Beijing.
The Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor said Mr Li’s message of congratulations was consistent with the “quiet outreach” in recent months of China’s new ambassador to Australia.
But Mr McGregor, the institute’s senior fellow for East Asia, said it was difficult to see any firm basis for a genuine restart of a political dialogue between the two nations.
“The Chinese want something from Australia – a concession or acknowledgment of wrongdoing,” he said. “It is hard to know if they would demand that in a very public way. I think Australia would struggle to deliver that.”
He said there was nothing wrong with “exploring ways to at least begin ministerial contact” with China.
Richard Maude, executive director of policy at the Asia Society Australia, said a meeting between China’s ambassador in Canberra and Foreign Minister Penny Wong was a likely forum for Beijing to follow up on Mr Li’s message.
Mr Maude, who was Julia Gillard’s most senior international adviser when she was prime minister, said it would be entirely reasonable to expect resumption of normal ministerial contact would only follow the end of China’s trade blockade. “The Australian position has to be: the ball is in Beijing’s court,” he said.
Shared concern about China’s behaviour in the Indo-Pacific hung over Tuesday’s Quad meeting. Mr Biden was the only Quad leader to specifically mention China in his opening comments before their closed-door meeting.
“I was once asked by the leader of China, ‘Why do you keep talking about being an Indo-Pacific county?’ I said: ‘Because we are,” he said.
While not naming China, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida clearly linked Beijing’s threats over Taiwan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We should never, ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Mr Albanese did mention China in his later press conference, twice saying: “It’s not Australia that has changed. It’s China that has.”
Asked about China’s security agreement with Solomon Islands, Senator Wong said it demonstrated Australia’s “changed strategic environment”.
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