Coalition warns Albanese: Don’t rush to mediate US-China ties

The Coalition has warned the Albanese government not to get ahead of itself in seeking to mediate tensions between the incoming Trump administration and China.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham addresses the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

The Coalition has warned the Albanese government not to get ahead of itself in seeking to ­mediate tensions between the incoming Trump administration and China, saying Australia needs to focus on bedding down AUKUS and avoiding threatened US tariff hikes.

As Donald Trump prepares to launch a new trade war with Beijing and muscle up against Chinese military threats, Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he believed Australia could act as an intermediary to help manage strategic competition between the great power rivals.

“We think that we can play a role as a middle power. We’re trusted; our word matters,” the Prime Minster told the ABC.

“Of course, we have an alliance with the US, but China is our major trading partner.

“More than one in four of every Australian trading dollar is related to China.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham told the National Press Club that Australia should play a con­structive role in its dealings with both countries but said: “We also need to be realistic about the challenges we face when it comes to our engagement with the Trump administration”.

He said the government first needed to “position and explain AUKUS” to the new administration, and seek an exemption from Mr Trump’s promised 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on US trading partners.

Senator Birmingham said the government had a strong case to make that Australia was investing in its own defence and in the US submarine industry, but the ­nation would have to prove it was not looking for a free ride.

“Our budgets must match our plans, and our delivery must match our ambitions,” he said.

There was no reason to “catastrophise” over the US election result, he said, arguing that “there are opportunities in the second Trump administration”.

He did sound a warning over the future of Ukraine, amid fears Mr Trump will force a peace settlement on Kyiv that hands large swathes of its territory to Russia. “While it is right to seek peace, it must be a just peace that secures Ukraine’s future security and sovereignty,” he said.

Senator Birmingham said a Dutton government would seek “principled and predictable” ties with China after the damaging trade bans imposed by Beijing on Australian exports during the Morrison government, but he said the Coalition’s hopes to consign the bilateral tensions to the past could be derailed unless Beijing acted responsibly in the world.

China’s “no limits” partnership with Russia, its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, and its intimidation of Taiwan and crushing of democracy in Hong Kong, were all threats to closer co-operation with Beijing, he said. “As China continues its growth, including rapid growth of nuclear armed military capabilities, it becomes more important than ever that this great power act with great responsibility.”