Cold war: freeze on China ties

China is putting Australia into a diplomatic deep freeze, stalling on ministerial visits and deferring a trip by our top diplomat.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop with.with Frances Adamson, the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

China is putting Australia into a diplomatic deep freeze, stalling on ministerial visits, deferring a trip by our top diplomat and putting off a broad range of lower-level ­exchanges to pressure Malcolm Turnbull over the new foreign ­interference laws and naval challenges to disputed Chinese claims in the South China Sea.

Critical reports about Australia and the Prime Minister have spiked in China following his visit last week to Washington, where he agreed to help enforce tough sanctions on North Korea and discussed “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea.

In recent weeks, China has made it difficult for lower-level ­exchange programs, education visits and, according to government sources, deferred a trip by Foreign Affairs departmental secretary Frances Adamson, Australia’s highest-ranking diplomat and a former ambassador to Beijing.

Earlier consideration of a March trip for Mr Turnbull to ­Beijing — he has already visited Tokyo and Washington this year — has not been followed up and a scheduled Chinese trip for Julie Bishop will not be decided until after the Chinese congress finishes this month.

Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are due to go to China this year as part of a formal agreement to have annual meetings between Chinese and Australian leaders and foreign ministers.

Senior government sources deny the senior ministerial trips have been affected and Mr Turnbull plans to go to Beijing later in the year while Ms Bishop is waiting for the end of the People’s ­Congress before planning her trip.

But government sources concede there is a diplomatic and ­bureaucratic stalling over a range of visits, as Beijing voices its ­displeasure at foreign-­interference laws it sees as being ­directed against China.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop meeting her Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

It is understood the Chinese government deferred at least one scheduled trip from a Chinese minister and is pressuring business and educational bodies to split from government policy.

The Australian reported last week that university leaders were concerned about Chinese government attempts to dissuade ­students from coming to Australia to study. In an escalation of the pressure on universities, school visits have been cancelled, senior educational meetings in Beijing have been “postponed” and messages warning of the dangers of studying in Australia have been posted on the website of the ­Chinese embassy in Canberra.

Chinese state media reports since Mr Turnbull’s trip to Washington and meeting US President Donald Trump have sought to draw attention to divisions ­between the US and Australia. A Global Times article — which ­labelled Australia an “anti-China pioneer” — even suggested Mr Turnbull had made a U-turn on China after he declared Australia did not see the communist nation as a threat.

A Xinhua report said the Washington trip failed to resolve differences between the US and Australia, such as the Trans-­Pacific Partnership. A report in an overseas edition of the People’s Daily highlighted Ms Bishop’s suggestion that Australia would not have the US dictate to it over freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea.

Mr Turnbull’s positions on operations in the South China Sea and action against North Korea, however, were consistent with the government’s position, although the Prime Minister did not adopt the US strategic description of China as a “threat”.

After Mr Trump said he would “love” Australia to join the US in military passages through Chinese disputed territorial waters, Mr Turnbull refused to say in advance when an operation would take place. Such an operation, which the US has conducted in the past, would contradict ­Beijing’s claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea and assert the right of free passage for international shipping.

In Australia, Ms Bishop said: “We have been traversing the South China Sea for many years in accordance with international law and we will continue to do that. Australia is an upholder and defender of the international rules-based order. We believe strongly in the principle of freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, and we will continue to traverse the South China Sea as we have in the past”.

Late last year, Chinese officials in Beijing, supported by its embassy, ratcheted up pressure on ­Australia following the release of the foreign policy white paper, the breakdown over the China ­extradition treaty, and coverage of ­Chinese influence in Australia, headlined by the Sam Dastyari scandal.

In a series of forums in China, Chinese officials and government-aligned think tanks suggested there was a growing perception of Australians being racist and irresponsible. An official who claimed China was ­becoming a “scapegoat” for Mr Turnbull’s gain suggested recent developments had the potential to “damage” bilateral relations.