US-China dialogue needed to prevent ‘catastrophe’: Wong

Penny Wong will urge the UN General Assembly to push for a resumption of high-level dialogue between China and the US to prevent ‘catastrophic conflict’.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the United Nations, New York, recently. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Pool/Andrew Kelly

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will urge the UN General Assembly in New York to push for a resumption of high-level dialogue between China and the US to prevent misunderstandings between the nuclear-armed rivals from spiralling into “catastrophic ­conflict”.

In a speech scheduled for about 7am Saturday AEST, Senator Wong will declare “strategic trust is in short supply”, and call for the establishment of “concrete mechanisms” to avert conflict.

“Communication should never be withheld as a punishment or offered as a reward,” she will say, according to an advance copy of her speech.

The call comes amid China’s ongoing rejection of US President Joe Biden’s push for strategic “guard­rails” to prevent the relationship from veering dangerously off-track.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged greater communication after China's President Xi Jinpinghas rejected US counterpart Joe Biden’s push for strategic “guardrails”. Picture: Saul Leob/AFP

Senator Wong will point to the “conflict prevention infrastructure” established after the Cuban missile crisis, which included a hotline between the leaders of the US and Soviet Union.

“Today’s circumstances mean we need to commit anew to building such preventive infrastructure to reduce the risk of crisis, conflict and war by accident,” Senator Wong will say.

“The Indo-Pacific is home to unprecedented military build-up, yet transparency and strategic reassurance are lacking.

“So it is up to all of us to act to deploy our collective statecraft, our influence, our networks, our capabilities, to minimise the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation to prevent catastrophic conflict.”

Senator Wong will say the UN is falling short of its mission to prevent conflict and solve the world’s biggest problems, and “we are collectively falling further behind”.

She will highlight unchecked climate change, food and water shortages and rising global inequality, and call for multilateral development banks to do more to help the world’s poor.

Senator Wong’s speech follows another earlier this week to the UN Security Council calling for reform to the institution, including constraints on the veto power of the council’s permanent members.

“Russia’s abuse of its veto is mocking us all,” she said.

On the sidelines of the summit, Senator Wong received what appeared to be a cool reception from Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.

The Israeli Foreign Minister described “happy” and “excellent” meetings with other global counterparts, referring to many as “my friend” but he was less effusive with Senator Wong, after Labor hardened its language last month to refer to “illegal” Israeli settlements and “Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

“I met with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, ­@SenatorWong,” Mr Cohen tweeted.

“We talked about the enormous potential in Israel-Australia relations and economic sectors that we could connect in order to strengthen trade between the countries.”

Senator Wong said the meeting had been “positive” and ­“constructive”.