MNI POLICY: Australia's Labor Would Boost China Diplomacy

Australia's Labor Party opposition would re-invest in the diplomatic network and guarantee a dedicated trade portfolio in an effort to improve deteriorating ties with China and restore the separation between the country's commercial ties and its strategic alliance with the U.S., the party's trade spokesperson Madeleine King told MNI.

King, a member of the federal parliament, said the government seemed unprepared for its deepening dispute with China because of a lack of focus, noting that Trade Minister Simon Birmingham is also minister for finance, investment and tourism in addition to leading the government in the Senate.

"If we had a dedicated trade minister we might have a better chance of getting China's attention," King said in an interview, adding that after China-Australia relations had gone downhill since a 2015 free trade agreement, with business leaders now relied upon "to do the heavy lifting".

Renewed diplomatic engagement is key to repairing dialogue with Beijing and would require the rebuilding of a network which she said had withered in the last five years. China's increasing assertiveness has left Australia unable to keep its trade interests separate from its alliance with the Washington, and the country's diplomacy must be more "nimble" to restore the balance, she said.

This would require a "sustained commitment to the relationship, and that means more people from government on the ground."

BIDEN

In the short term, she hoped the incoming Biden administration in the U.S. might provide a "circuit breaker" in world trade with a return to a more multilateral approach and less of the "megaphone diplomacy" seen under Donald Trump.

Labor has largely taken a bipartisan position on Australia's trade dispute with China, backing the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he plans to complain to the World Trade Organisation but also criticising some of his tactics as being overly reactive and unhelpful.

The previous Labor government was the first to ban Chinese telco Huawei from participating in building the National Broadband Network in 2012, a move credited with sowing early tensions between the two countries which exploded this year into punitive tariffs on Australian products such as wine, barley and – as of this week – beef exports.

"I think the big difference now is that we have lost the network of relationships we used to have in China," said King, who said a Labor government would also enlist the support of the country's Chinese diaspora to mend ties with Beijing.

Australia's next federal election must be held by 2022.