Morrison pushes for stronger Quad to counter aggressive China
Scott Morrison has warned the Quad must be strengthened to counter Chinese aggression and coercion, in a Tokyo speech defending his government’s brawl with Beijing.
Scott Morrison has warned Quad leaders to not allow their “focus and agenda to become diluted and distracted” in a new era of globalised strategic rivalry pitting western powers against aggressive and coercive autocracies led by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Following criticism about the substance of the Quad leaders’ dialogue meeting in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware last weekend, Mr Morrison said the pact between Japan, Australia, the US and India must be maintained and strengthened as a key pillar in deterring the “arc of autocracy”.
Speaking at the Yomiuri International Economic Security Symposium in Tokyo on Thursday, the former prime minister launched a defence of his former government’s “strident position” towards Xi Jinping’s People’s Republic of China.
“We can peacefully coexist, but only with the right safeguards in place. We must do so with our eyes wide open and with the good sense to put a sufficient deterrent in place to counterbalance the growing power and influence of autocracies,” Mr Morrison said.
“The objective of such a deterrent is simple, to ensure that when President Xi (Jinping) wakes up every morning and thinks about Taiwan, he concludes ‘not today’.”
Ahead of Jim Chalmers meeting with Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Thursday, marking the first visit to the Communist nation by an Australian treasurer in seven years, Mr Morrison explained why he had pushed-back against the PRC.
“I believed this was necessary to counter the PRC’s deliberate strategy to test Australia’s will and to split us off from our allies and partners. I believed that pretending to share values and interests with an autocracy seeking to bully and coerce us, while they undermined the very rules and norms that afforded us our freedom, got us where we are today. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
“This does not mean we do not engage diplomatically with China or even trade and seek co-operation on global challenges like climate change, human trafficking and organised crime.”
In retaliation against the Morrison government’s defence of Australia’s national interests, Beijing imposed diplomatic freezes and trade sanctions, while ramping-up cyber attacks and foreign interference.
Last week’s Quad meeting attended by Anthony Albanese was overshadowed by Mr Biden’s decision to not run in November’s US election, the imminent retirement of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and speculation about Narendra Modi’s long-term commitment to the security pact.
Reflecting on the quad meeting, Mr Morrison said the most valuable comment at the summit was Mr Biden’s “candid ‘hot mic’ admission about the PRC and Xi Jinping seeking to test rivals”.
“This sends a clear signal about what is really at stake. It has the ability to galvanise action,” he said.
Mr Morrison – who played a key role in restoring the four nation Indo-Pacific security dialogue in 2021 and was co-architect of the AUKUS pact with the US and Britain – said “the Quad must not feel the need to overpopulate its agenda to fill out communiques and validate its existence”.
“It does not need announceables. It needs to exist and meet regularly to ensure that their collective actions and responses to foster a free and open Indo-Pacific are aligned and on point, and where they are not, to change course. In many ways, less would be more, and would keep autocracies guessing.”
“When the Quad leader’s dialogue was reconstituted it was attacked by the PRC as they knew the deterrent power of such regular high level collaboration between like-minded countries focused on Indo-Pacific security in all its forms.”
The 56-year-old, who joined American Global Strategies as non-executive vice-chairman after retiring from politics in February, said ongoing policy workshops and co-ordination of foreign aid programs in Quad communiques “are fine … but too often just represent diplomatic BAU”.
“Such initiatives do not require leaders to meet together for these things to be done. That is not what the Quad leader’s dialogue should be expected to deliver.”
“If anything, the mere fact that the Quad leader’s dialogue provides the opportunity for regular unscripted engagement and real-time collective assessment by leaders on regional security and economic challenges has a value all to itself.”
Mr Morrison outlined three key principles that should underpin the Quad, including unlocking private sector capital to advance regional economic security objectives.
He said de-risking private investment in strategic sectors across emerging Indo-Pacific economies must be a priority, alongside identifying “where our most urgent strategic vulnerabilities and opportunities are and the capability and intent of Quad nations to act in concert to address them”.
Mr Morrison said President Xi had brazenly “personalised the PRC regime to himself more than any leader since Mao and restored the centrality of communist ideology, empowering the CCP over the Chinese state and economy”.
“Unlike the Cold War rivalry between the Americans and Soviets, this new era of strategic rivalry is not confined to binary competition between two apex powers. This rivalry is far broader. It’s not just about the PRC. They have fellow travellers- Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, just to name a few.”
He also warned about rising collaboration between autocratic nations and proxies, including “the opening up of alternative trade and financial channels that blunt the force of global financial sanctions and facilitate the movement of funds and weapons, such as to Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah to engage in terrorism”.
Mr Morrison said China and other autocratic countries do not need to tear down global institutions such as the United Nations to undermine global rules and norms: “They just need to infiltrate, distract and dilute them, so they can continue on their merry way. Global institutions with Chinese characteristics. To this end they are having success.”
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