Anthony Albanese cannot allow Beijing’s top diplomat in Australia to slur our ally Japan and suggest the Australian Defence Force concocted details about a Chinese warship sonar pulse attack on our sailors.
Following in the footsteps of his “wolf-warrior” predecessor, Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian delivered the hyped-up rhetoric, disinformation and veiled threats that we have come to expect from Xi Jinping’s diplomats.
Xiao’s refusal to accept responsibility for the potentially fatal sonar attack on ADF personnel and insinuations that Japan may have played a role proves again the Chinese Communist Party is incapable of speaking the truth.
Instead of repeating the line that “we’ll co-operate where we can, we will disagree where we must and we will engage in our national interests”, Albanese needs to muscle-up.
The Prime Minister, who on Wednesday indicated China would remove bans on Australian wine “very soon”, has done well to ease tensions with Beijing.
However, under no circumstances should Australians be thanking the Chinese regime for ending unfair sanctions that should never have been imposed.
Under Xi’s rule, Australia and Indo-Pacific allies have been subjected to aggression ranging from dangerous air and sea military manoeuvres, state-sanctioned cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure, foreign interference campaigns undermining democratic institutions and trade bans designed to cripple exporters.
Xiao’s suggestion that the ADF and People’s Liberation Army increase engagement via mutual visits and joint military exercises is beyond comprehension given Australia’s AUKUS pact with the US and the UK equips us with nuclear propulsion, underwater sea drones and enhanced missile capabilities.
When Albanese met Xi and Li Qiang in November, he could not fly to Beijing and Shanghai on his usual RAAF jet over security concerns that Chinese spies could hack its systems.
Despite Australia maintaining its One China policy and Albanese’s consistent efforts to not provoke Beijing, Xiao scalded the federal government over its response to the Taiwanese election.
Australians expect the government to champion democracy.
The victory of pro-democracy, anti-China leader William Lai must be welcomed, regardless of Beijing’s displeasure.
Western powers are on high alert after Xi used his New Year’s Eve address to reiterate that Taiwan must be “reunified” with China – a central plank of his legacy manifesto.
With the US and China locked in a battle for strategic, military and diplomatic supremacy in the Indo-Pacific, Australians are rightly concerned about conflict in the region.
Albanese’s mission to re-engage economic ties with China has always carried political risk.
After a disastrous end to 2023 with the voice referendum defeat and release of dangerous non-citizens, Albanese is exposed on national security.
Seeking to win back Chinese-Australian voters and avoid Scott Morrison’s anti-China rhetoric, Peter Dutton will target the CCP and PLA and play to his perceived strength as a security hardman.
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