Navy ‘must push back against Beijing militarisation of South China Sea’

Australia must not see its relationship with Beijing as a trade-off between strategic and commercial interests, says a former ASIO head.

Former head of the Defence Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Dennis Richardson. Picture: Kym Smith

The Australian navy should conduct freedom-of-navigation exercises across man-made struc­tures built by China as a way of pushing against Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea, one of Australia’s most respected public servants says.

Former head of the Defence Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Dennis Richardson says Australia must not see its relationship with Beijing as a trade-off between strategic and commercial interests.

Mr Richardson, who was ­ambassador to the US as well as in charge of domestic spy agency ASIO, has called for a more balanced approach to the relationship with Beijing, one that pushes back against China’s ­covert influence campaign in Australia and its incursions in the South China Sea but avoids the “paranoia’’ of assuming every Chinese national with links to the CCP is a foreign agent.

“It is in our interests that quality Australian businesspeople are involved in Chinese investment and companies,’’ he writes in Tuesday’s The Australian.

“‘Links’ or ‘connections’ to the Chinese Communist Party should not surprise anyone with half a brain and should not be used to question the loyalty of good Australians.’’

Mr Richardson says Australia should not be afraid to sail within 12 nautical miles of the man-made atolls that China has constructed in the South China Sea and which Beijing claims as territorial islands — a claim not recognised under international law.

These so-called freedom-of-navigation exercises could be conducted discretely and with little or no fanfare so as not to gratuitously antagonise China, an outcome Australian policy-makers have been eager to avoid, Mr Richardson says.

He says Australia’s long-standing alliance with the US does not compromise its standing in Asia, a point sometimes made by critics of the pact, arguing that given the increased strategic uncertainty in the region the relationship with Washington is more important than ever.

He also criticises Scott Morrison, saying the Prime Minister’s suggestion China be stripped of development status in the WTO is “more a case of jumping at shadows then substance’’.