Canberra [Australia], December 11 (ANI): During the G20 summit in Bali, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese showcased the success of Canberra following an “unsubmissive approach” towards China by securing a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, The Singapore Post reported. By refusing to bend to China’s “belligerence and economic coercion,” Australia has earned China’s respect or Beijing’s acknowledgement that its tactics will not work.
A sustained high-level engagement between China and Australia will demonstrate whether it is true. In the last five years, Australia’s approach to China has been described with “lazy” commentariat resorting to terms like ‘hardline’ and ‘hawkish’,” as per The Singapore Post report.
These terms can be prosecuted as they have implications that are unsettling regarding how nations like Australia should deal with China and the objectives of Australia’s foreign policy. The term “hawkish” refers to an aggressive or warlike stance in foreign policy.
According to The Singapore Post, Australia intends to have regional stability. However, stability relies on a collective sense of legitimacy. The report has raised questions that if legitimacy is based on raw power or it is based on a set of principles, institutions, and rules that permit nations to cooperate with each other. Canberra seeks to follow the latter while China prefers the former, according to the news report.
Over the recent years, China has “targeted” Australia to check how far it can push the current international system’s principles and rules. For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the world is divided into those who use power and those who yield to it, as per The Singapore Post report.
According to the news report, China used “economic coercion, arbitrary detention, foreign interference operations, military intimidation and an extraordinary list of grievances” it expected the Australian government to determine see if Australia was a “chump,” according to The Singapore Post report.
Australia has refused to be intimidated and remained committed to its values and interests. Canberra follows the principles and rules of the international system which underscores that bullying should be unacceptable.
The new Labour Party government led by Anthony Albanese has removed some of the “rougher edges” of the position taken by the previous government. However, the Albanese-led government has remained defiant.
Beijing appears to have agreed that Australia can now hold high-level meetings. The Australian government has welcomed the stance taken by Beijing and stressed that it will cooperate with Beijing where possible and disagree where it is necessary. According to the report, Australia will diplomatically support Taiwan over China if it follows an “entirely values-based” stance. (ANI)
