Penny Wong to urge bipartisan effort for China diplomacy

Penny Wong will warn the Coalition not to ‘weaponise’ Australia’s China relationship for political gain as the government tries to stabilise ties with the authoritarian superpower.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who gave the Whitlam Oration in Sydney on Saturday night. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will warn the Coalition not to “weaponise” Australia’s China relationship as the government tries to stabilise the nation’s ties with the authoritarian superpower, in a major foreign policy speech to be delivered on Sunday night.

Delivering the Whitlam Oration in Sydney, Senator Wong will say the Albanese government is - like Whitlam’s - lifting Australia’s engagement with the region with “purpose, principle and pragmatism”.

“We want to be partners, not patriarchs. Rather than lurching from absent to overbearing, Albanese Labor seek to be better, more involved and more helpful members of the Pacific family,” she will say.

Ahead of a possible bilateral meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping at next week’s G20 Summit in Bali, Senator Wong will say the stabilising relations with Beijing is in the national interest.

“We won’t weaponise national security for political purposes. We will seek to navigate our differences wisely – something, in fact, we believe both our countries should do,” she will say.

Pointing to Scott Morrison’s pre-election attempt to portray Defence Minister Richard Marles as a “Manchurian candidate”, Senator Wong will challenge her opposition counterpart Simon Birmingham to “reject the rending of national unity as a craven political tactic”.

“Senator Birmingham is one of the more decent people in the parliament,” she will say.

“But decency must be matched by action to have effect. In this lies real leadership.

“I urge him and Mr [Peter] Dutton to look to history, which does not favour those who serve their own narrow interests.”

Senator Wong will also take a veiled swipe at Labor figures such as Paul Keating and Bob Carr, saying it is an “insult” to Whitlam to act as if the world – including China – hadn’t changed.

“The China of today is not the same as the China of the 1970s, or even the 2000s. Some may prefer to pretend otherwise, but President Xi himself has made that clear,” she will say.

Senator Wong will say Whitlam should be celebrated for establishing diplomatic relations with China, encouraging Papua New Guinea to become independent, prioritising Indonesia, and transforming the nation’s relationship with Japan.

He “truly embraced Australia’s place in our region”, but was “also deeply pragmatic in putting Australia’s interests first”, she will say.

“As with the progressive governments that followed him, he understood the reality that we can’t only engage with those who share our values, whether on human rights or anything else,” Senator Wong will say.