China issues new demands to restart ties with Australia

China’s Foreign Minister gives Penny Wong a four-point list of actions Australia must take to get relationship ‘back on right track’.

China’s Foreign Minister has issued Penny Wong with a four-point list of actions Australia must take to get the relationship “back on the right track” and said the Coalition government was the “root cause” of Canberra and Beijing’s spectacular bilateral breakdown.

At a meeting in Bali on Friday that ended an almost three-year communication freeze, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Australian counterpart China was now willing to “re-examine and recalibrate” the bilateral relationship “based on mutual respect”.

President Xi Jinping’s senior envoy blamed the Coalition government’s “irresponsible” words and deeds for the rupture in the relationship.

“The root cause of the difficulties in bilateral relations over the past few years was the former Australian government’s insisting on regarding China as a rival or even a threat, allowing its words and deeds being irresponsible against China,” Mr Wang said, according to China’s official Xinhua newsagency.

Beijing attempted a similar strategy when President Joe Biden came to office, blaming the Trump administration for the deterioration of US-China relations.

Mr Wang, China’s second-most senior diplomat after politburo member Yang Jiechi, expressed hope the Albanese government would “seize the current opportunity and take actions to improve bilateral relations”.

A separate summary of the meeting issued by China’s Foreign Ministry said there were four requirements for Australia to improve the relationship.

First, Mr Wang said, Australia must treat China as a “partner rather than a rival”.

Second, the two countries must seek “common ground while shelving differences”.

Third, Australia must reject “manipulation by a third party”, he said, without naming the US.

Fourth, both countries must build “public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism”.

Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said Beijing was “likely to be disappointed” by Canberra “unless China itself changes course”.

China says four things need to change to get the relationship ‘back on track’. Picture: Johannes P. Christo

“Wang Yi’s first two points are not so unreasonable, provided that they are read as aspirations rather than demands, and that China itself were to respect them,” Professor Medcalf told The Australian.

“The third and fourth conditions are where it gets most unrealistic. Reject manipulation by a third party? That is based on the nonsensical view that Australian foreign policy is dictated by America, whereas it’s a matter of record that Canberra has independently shown the way for Washington and others in pushing back against Beijing.

“Build public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism? Beijing telling Canberra to tell Australians what to think? That’s wilful ignorance of the nature of democracy, a free media and the character of Australians.”

Australian National University Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies John Blaxland said the “issuing of demands” was unhelpful.

“That’s politically toxic in domestic Australian politics nowadays. Penny Wong knows that and is not going to agree to them, just like the PRC is not going to agree to a list of ‘demands’ Australia could justifiably put to Beijing,” he said.

Friday’s meeting was the first time China’s Foreign Minister had communicated with his Australian counterpart in almost three years. Beijing froze ministerial relations after it became angry with the Morrison government. Following her meeting with Mr Wang, Senator Wong said while the Australian government had changed, “our national interests and our policy settings have not”.

“This Australian government will always seek to resolve issues calmly and consistently under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and in accordance with Australia’s national interests,” she said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said “instead of setting conditions for Australia”, the Chinese government should end its “unjustified punishment of Australian businesses”.

“Australia has always been willing to engage with China as respectful partners and to work together, consistent with the terms of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and free-trade agreement,” he told The Australian.

“It is disappointing that the actions of the Chinese government breach the letter and spirit of these undertakings.”

Senator Birmingham said it was always counter-productive for the Chinese government to refuse to engage in ministerial-level dialogue with Australia, but said it was “welcome” that some Chinese officials had finally re-engaged.

Public opinion in Australia has soured sharply towards China, as Beijing attempted to punish the Coalition government for calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

A recent Lowy poll found that Australians’ trust in China had plunged to just 12 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2018.

Only 11 per cent of Australians surveyed said they had confidence in Mr Xi to do the right thing in international affairs, only marginally better than his good friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his ally, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Wang also defended China’s increased security presence in the Pacific in his meeting with Senator Wong, another point of ongoing tension between the two countries.

China’s Foreign Minister said those agreements – including a new police presence in Solomon Islands – were “at the request” of Pacific countries.

“At the same time, China has also carried out trilateral co-operation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region, which has achieved positive results,” he said, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday said he would discuss China’s “more aggressive” behaviour with the region’s leaders at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji.

Additional Reporting: Sarah Ison and Joe Kelly