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Australia's Labor Party comes to power, and China-Australia relations are hard to turn around

2022-05-23T09:41:44.814Z


In the just-concluded Australian general election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese led his party to a successful defeat of the Liberal-National coalition and returned to power after nine years. Albanese was announced today (23


In the just-concluded Australian general election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese led his party to a successful defeat of the Liberal-National coalition and returned to power after nine years.

Albanese was sworn in as prime minister today (23rd) and will go to Japan on Tuesday to attend the US-Japan-India-Australia "Quad Security Dialogue" (QUAD) summit. The outside world is concerned about whether it will bring changes to Australia's foreign policy, especially A turnaround for China-Australia relations?


Although the former Prime Minister of the Liberal Party, Scott Morrison, packaged both the Labor Party and Albanese as "pro-China factions" during the election campaign, Australian public opinion has determined that it is difficult for any future Australian government to bring about its China policy. Any turn: According to a 2021 survey by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, a whopping 63 per cent of Australians surveyed see China as more of a security threat than an economic partner, a five-fold increase from the same survey in 2018.

Labour's Chinese-Malaysian shadow foreign minister Penny Wong said in a speech at the end of April: "Our region is being reshaped, mostly because China is becoming more decisive and more aggressive. "

When former Australian Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating criticized Australia's current anti-Chinese and pro-American policy last year, Albanese also deliberately distanced himself from Keating, saying that China has changed and that Australia has the right to speak out for its values. , showing support for the Australia-UK-US alliance against China.

Former Australian intelligence chief Dennis Richardson, who has earlier criticised the Morrison administration for politicising national security issues to serve China's interests, also suggested Mr Morrison was creating a perception between the two parties of a divide that did not actually exist.

In fact, Australia's defense spending has risen from A$30 billion in 2015 to A$50 billion this year, and is expected to rise to A$70 billion in 2030; from expanding the military, strengthening cyber and intelligence capabilities, to developing hypersonic weapons There are various projects.

Actions such as the formation of the Australia-UK-US alliance between Australia and the UK and the US are also clearly aimed at China.

These policies are almost the consensus of the Liberal Party and the Labour Party.

On May 23, Albanese was sworn in as Prime Minister of Australia.

(Associated Press)

After the Solomon Islands and China confirmed last month that they had signed a security cooperation agreement, the Labor Party turned Morrison's "pro-China" accusation to the Liberal government, slamming the Liberal government's lack of attention to the South Pacific island countries. Barnese called it "the most serious failure of Australia's Pacific foreign policy since the end of World War II".

Before the election, Albanese said: "The Chinese Communist Party has changed, it has become more daring and more aggressive, which means Australia must respond." Albanese's response will probably be in Tokyo's Quad Show in front of people at the summit.

Compared with Morrison's strategy toward China, which blindly sided with the United States on security policy, Albanese is more likely to pay more attention to ally diplomacy like Biden, who replaced Trump.

Under Australia's geography, this is the Good Neighbor Policy.

For the South Pacific island countries, the Labor Party proposed to add more than 500 million Australian dollars in aid over the next four years to consolidate Australia's position as the largest donor in the region.

Unlike the Australia-UK-US alliance, which is oriented towards the goal of US control of China, Albanese will obviously pay more attention to diplomacy with other countries in the region.

The Labour Party has now proposed to promote a climate and infrastructure partnership with Indonesia, which is geographically separated from China and Australia. Albanese has also selected the country as one of the countries on his first visit in office, expressing his desire to cooperate with this country. The future "superpowers" have good relations.

At the same time, he will establish a foreign affairs and trade office dedicated to Southeast Asia and appoint a special representative to ASEAN.

In the current Australian public sentiment, after Albanese came to power, the overall trend of China-Australia relations is unlikely to pick up.

(Getty Images)

It can be seen that in the current Australian public sentiment, after Albanese came to power, the overall trend of China-Australia relations will hardly have a chance to pick up.

A government led by Albanese is more likely to become a more difficult adversary for China in the geopolitics of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.

For details, please read the 318th issue of "Hong Kong 01" e-Weekly Newsletter (May 23, 2022) "

Australian Labor Party Comes to Taiwan, China-Australia Relations Difficult to Turn Around

".

Click here

to try out the weekly e-newsletter for more in-depth reports.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-05-23

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