Scott Morrison’s barbecue diplomacy plan in Pacific

Scott Morrison will seek to increase Australia’s presence and investment in the Pacific as part of a strategic push against China.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, left, greets Victorian Leader of the Opposition Matthew Guy before speaking to the media at Leawarra railway station in Melbourne.

Scott Morrison will seek to increase Australia’s presence and ­investment in the Pacific as part of a stronger strategic push against China’s moves to spread its influence in the region following accusations that past governments had failed to respond to the communist nation’s moves into Australia’s strategic zone.

However, the Prime Minister has signalled that he will take a different approach to dealing with the Asian superpower by dropping the megaphone diplomacy in favour of a more direct dialogue with the Chinese leadership.

Mr Morrison told The Weekend Australian he would privately meet South Pacific leaders at the APEC meeting later this year.

He said he had invited them to a barbecue at the Australian ­ambassador’s residence in Port Moresby, having been unable to attend the Pacific Islands Forum this week in Nauru.

“We are putting a fair bit of ­effort into those relationships. It is in our strategic interests, not just our longstanding friendship,” Mr Morrison said. “I’ve invited them all around for a barbecue. I think it will be very important … there are very real strategic issues to be managed in the Pacific.”

Mr Morrison described Australia and China’s differences as largely a “relationship management issue”.

However, strategic experts claim he will face his first big test as Prime Minister over the Chinese bid for the APA group, which owns and controls 13 of Australia’s 30 major gas pipelines and associated infrastructure. Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive ­director Peter Jennings said this would be a litmus test for Mr Morrison’s foreign and strategic policy instincts.

Mr Jennings agreed that Australia’s recent approach to China could be recalibrated and while backing a less confrontational ­approach, the government needed to stand up and be robust when ­required. “The best way to manage that relationship is get on with it and not draw a lot of attention to it,” Mr Jennings said.

“I agree there is no point needlessly aggravating China. But there will be occasions when he will have to be prepared to make some tough calls.” Mr Jennings said Mr Morrison would have to do more than talk big and would need to put more investment into the region to effectively counter China’s investment, claiming Australia had been asleep at the wheel for the past 10 years.

China’s aggressive push into the Indo-Pacific region was met with a slow response from the Turnbull government, after relations between the nations soured last year following the introduction of foreign interference laws, the release of the foreign policy white paper and a breakdown in negotiations over an extradition treaty.

It took public comments by former international development and Pacific minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in The Australian, criticising China’s influence in the region, to spark a rearguard ­response from the Turnbull government, arguably sparking the “Pacific step-up” where Australia directed more aid to the region.