Ties with China testify to Australia’s deft handling of foreign policy

Some tensions may be inevitable but Beijing respects our principled stance and US links.

Australia should never sell short its foreign policy achievements. I reflected on this during the high-level dialogue I attended in Beijing last week. I had been invited by former foreign minister Julie Bishop to lead Australia’s delegation.

High-level dialogues, which involve a mixture of diplomats, former ministers, business figures and cultural leaders, and are conducted under Chatham House rules, facilitate much more direct discussion than is sometimes possible in the more formal exchanges between government officials.

At last week’s dialogue our team included former Labor foreign minister Stephen Smith, whose contributions reinforced to our Chinese hosts the essentially bipartisan character and continuity of Sino-Australian relations, and Jennifer Westacott of the Business Council of Australia. Journalist Rowan Callick and author Richard McGregor, who have extensive background knowledge of China, also attended. The participation of National Museum of Australia director Mathew Trinca emphasised cultural links.

China is Australia’s largest export destination. Our two-way trade with China is greater than with any other nation. The continued demand, emanating from China, for Australia’s resource exports played a crucial role in limiting the impact of the global financial crisis on our country.

No two nations ever achieve a perfect score in bilateral relations. But over the past 40 years we have got most things right with China. This has been remarkable given the obvious differences in population size, history, culture and political systems.

China is resolutely authoritarian. Its justice system lacks the transparency of ours. Under Xi Jinping, the role of the Communist Party has been strengthened. This is not going to change. We may not like it, but that is the path China has taken.

As evidenced during the dialogue, the Chinese grapple with the freedom and openness of Australia’s media. As was made clear to them, this is not going to alter. It is a core part of the fabric of Australian democracy.

Inevitably there will be tensions in the relationship, often as a consequence of our differences. Openly acknowledging differences and, where appropriate, working around them, is crucial to keeping our relations on track.

There have been tensions over the past 12 months, but they have eased. Malcolm Turnbull’s early August speech restored proper context to the relationship. Subsequent meetings between the foreign ministers of the two coun­tries and the bilateral exchange between Scott Morrison and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the recent East Asia Summit in Singapore continued the process.

The high-level dialogue, chaired on the Chinese side by former foreign minister Li Zhaoxing, was a further indication that earlier difficulties had been put behind us. This has been achieved without Australia compromising on issues of principle.

China is in no doubt about our attitude to the South China Sea dispute. During the dialogue, foreign investment decisions that had raised some sensitivities with the Chinese were defended. Our hosts were reminded that Australia is remarkably open to foreign investment, but like all other nations will act to protect its strategic economic and other interests.

Likewise, the Australian team made it plain that the recently enacted foreign interference legislation was not targeted at any one country but rather at all clandestine or deceptive activity by foreign interests.

A constant backdrop to our discussions was an acceptance that the bilateral relationship between China and the US would do more to shape the world’s future than any other.

The so-called Thucydides Trap — the belief that armed conflict between the US and China is inevitable — rated a mention. It was common ground, though, that such a prediction, most recently canvassed in Graham Allison’s book Destined for War, would be denied.

The rise of China, which has been good not only for China but also the rest of the world, has played a major part in mankind’s greatest success of the past 25 years. This period has seen more people taken out of poverty than at any comparable time since the Industrial Revolution.

There are those who foolishly argue that Australia will inevitably have to choose between the US and China. It should be the constant goal of our foreign policy to eschew such a choice.

The US remains Australia’s vital security partner. Moreover, the values we have in common with the US mean that we will always be closer to the Americans. Like values bind nations together more tightly than anything else.

We should never underestimate China’s understanding of the history of Australia’s relationship with the US. Properly handled, as I believe it has been to date, our closeness to the Americans ought not to impede our dealings with China. In this context the personal links with China and its people are hugely important.

There are 1.2 million Australians of Chinese heritage. Chinese is the most widely spoken foreign language in our country. Chinese students continually demonstrate a preference for studying in Australia. Last year there were more Chinese visitors to Australia than from any other country. In other words, there is much more to the relationship than resource exports, important though they are.

China’s rise has challenged American pre-eminence in our region. Resolving the current trade dispute between China and the US is important for the whole world.

Australia must be the constant ­advocate of freer and fairer trade. We must maintain the successes of past decades in strengthening the two relationships. Albeit different, they are both vital to Australia’s future.

A final thought: we should be wary of those who assert that China’s rise will inevitably result in supremacy over the Americans. I remain to be convinced that, for a variety of reasons, the US will not be the more powerful of the two at the end of this century.

John Howard was prime minister from 1996 to 2007.