Alliance must unite on China: our man in Washington Arthur Sinodinos

Australia’s new ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, says Australia must join with the US to ‘push back’ against China.

Australia’s new ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, at his White Oaks residence in Washington. Picture: Mary Balzary

Australia’s new ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, says Australia must increasingly join forces with the US to “push back” against China when it engages in “overreach” that threatens both countries’ national interests.

Mr Sinodinos also said it would be “negligent” of Australia and the world not to seek an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, and the lessons that could be learned.

Mr Sinodinos’s strong comments came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo backed Scott Morrison’s call for an inquiry and chastised Beijing’s threat to inflict economic retaliation on Australia.

Mr Sinodinos, who succeeded Joe Hockey as ambassador in February, welcomed Mr Pompeo’s support and said it was important to gain broad international backing for the Prime Minister’s call for an independent and objective inquiry into the origins of the virus that has wreaked death and economic destruction across the globe.

Arthur Sinodinos presents his credentials to President Donald Trump as became Australia’s ambassador to the US in February. Picture: Joyce N. Boghosian

“We welcome all support for an independent, objective international review of the COVID-19 outbreak,” Mr Sinodinos told The Weekend Australian in his first major interview in Washington.

“I think it’s important for us to have the inquiry because this has been a potentially world-changing situation, so the idea that we could go through this without reflecting on the lessons I think would be negligent on all our parts.

“While I know the Chinese would look at this and say it’s aimed at China because, well, that’s where the virus began, but the point is it’s about getting lessons from that for the future.”

Mr Sinodinos said that while a “strong and prosperous China” was in everyone’s interests, he believed Australia and the US should continue to “push back in areas where we believe there has been overreach by China”.

He said Australia, the US and other Western nations had a “common interest” in combating issues such as cyber activities, interference, disinformation and other actions that Beijing has been accused of in the past.

“Where the alliance with the US comes in is recognising the ­extent to which — whether it’s cyber activity, disinformation, state actors as well as non-state ­actors — we in the West have a common interest in battling it,” Mr Sinodinos said.

“The rules-based order that the US put together after World War II … rested on a very strong relationship between the various Western players, and I think, going forward, that’s got to be the case as well, whether it’s through (the) Five Eyes (intelligence alliance) or like-minded countries working together to push back in areas where we believe there has been overreach by China.”

The 63-year-old Mr Sinodinos has had a tough start in his new role in Australia’s most important diplomatic post. He was in Washington for only a few weeks ­before the coronavirus pandemic forced much of the US indoors and turned Washington DC into a ghost town.

The lockdown forced Mr Sinodinos — a former federal minister and long-time adviser to prime minister John Howard — to introduce himself to the powerbrokers of the Trump administration via video link. “It’s been a real mixture for me,” he told The Weekend Australian. “In my case, it has meant doing a lot of stuff by telephone or video conference, including talking to people in the administration, talking to people in the congress … we have adapted to the new normal.”

Mr Sinodinos has recovered from the cancer he suffered in 2017 but is still rebuilding his immunity and is taking a cautious approach in the face of the virus, which has claimed the lives of more than 60,000 Americans.

But before the pandemic lockdown, he did manage to visit ­Donald Trump in the Oval Office to present his credentials.

“When I saw him (Mr Trump), the bushfires were very much on his mind,” Mr Sinodinos said.

“He asked about the fires and what might happen afterwards, and what was the best way of dealing with them. He asked about backburning, he had heard about that, and what they do in Darwin around backburning (with) indigenous practices.

“I thought he was very open and receptive towards us, and it confirmed something the Prime Minister said to me, which was ‘you will find the President asks you a lot of questions’. It wasn’t one of those conversations where he just talks to you, or talks at you, it was more interactive than that.”

Cameron Stewart is also the US contributor for Sky News Australia