Australia moves to quell tension with China
Updated
Australia's hoping a speech by foreign minister Stephen Smith in Canberra will draw a line under six months of tensions with China. Mr Smith is pointing to the expected visit to Australia this week of China's vice-Premier Li Keqiang as evidence of a thaw. Eminent China watchers have been calling on the Australian government to spell out a framework for the future of the Australia-China relationship, dogged as it has been by issues from the detention of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, to Chinese foreign investment rejections and Australia's defence white paper.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speaker: Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign minister; Dr Richard Rigby, China Institute, Australian National University; Duncan Calder, Australia China Business Council
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MOTTRAM: When China downgraded its diplomatic representation to a Pacific leaders meeting in Cairns in August, it was the culmination of months of mounting bilateral troubles. Australia's been trying to get matters back on track, and Stephen Smith is particularly pleased about the expected visit to Australia this week of Chinese vice-Premier Li Kerqiang.
SMITH: He's of course in the top nine in the politburo and if you follow the commentary on succession then there's a very distinct prospect that he may succeed the Premier as Premier so he's a significant player in the Chinese system and we welcome his visit very much.
MOTTRAM: His wider task though, with China's Ambassador to Australia Zhang Junsai in the audience, was to set a framework for the diplomatic task with Beijing. It was neatly contained in the title, "Australia-China Relations: A Long Term View".
SMITH: Much recent commentary on the Australia-China relationship has tended to focus on tensions caused by individual issues, and from those tensions to extrapolate negative judgments about the state of the broader relationship. This is a narrow approach and one that overlooks a more enduring picture.
MOTTRAM: To counter those individual issues and tensions, Mr Smith put the relationship in the context of its beginnings. There was the far-sighted decision of mutual recognition thirty years ago; there was ever-growing trade and investment; and there were broader areas of mutual interest, such as the newly appointed global role of the G-20 on financial issues, which includes both Australia and China. Work on climate change had been elevated to ministerial level, the minister said. Defence talks had also been elevated. And the two countries worked together on shared regional interests like North Korea.
But where much was shared, the minister's policy framework for the future relationship with China attempted to incorporate the very obvious points of difference.
SMITH: This framework has two important elements. First is a frank acknowledgment of the realities of the two sides, the differences that are or may arise. Second, is a strong commitment to manage such differences in a straightforward and constructive way, with an eye to the long term.
MOTTRAM: Mr Smith in particular acknowledged two very different political systems .. Australia's with robust debate in public, China's with a greater priority on public unity and consensus. But these realities, he said, should not be a focus to the point that they distort the broader relationship. The challenge was to manage matters when interests, values or concerns pulled in contrary directions. And Mr Smith didn't shy from being specific.
SMITH: One such issue is the detention of Stern Hu. This is primarily now a consular case, but it inevitably raised questions for Australian and other international companies doing business in China.
MOTTRAM: Another was the visit of Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, controversies about Australia's defence white paper and Australian comments on human rights in China. And yet another looms, with the proposed visit to Australia in December of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, with whom Mr Smith has met as foreign minister in the past. No similar meeting is scheduled yet.
SMITH: Differing views on some issues can neither be denied nor wished away. The real question is how we deal with them when they occur. Like so much in life or in foreign policy, it is often not what happens, but how we respond to what happens that is essential.
MOTTRAM: Future directions would include measures across foreign policy, trade, defence and culture. And there was much mention of the need to be constructive, patient and forward looking.
Introducing Mr Smith's speech, the executive director of the Australia China Institute, Doctor Richard Rigby, expressed concern that debate in Australia about China issues was not well-enough informed, especially when troubles arose.
RIGBY: It's not as if the problems that we've had haven't happened before and they will happen again too. But what we need to do is to have a firmer framework in which to place them.
MOTTRAM: For Australian business dealing with China, Mr Smith's speech was a welcome ministerial intervention. Duncan Calder is President of the West Australian branch of the Australia China Business Council -- Western Australia being a key source of the minerals and energy vital to China's development.
CALDER: And I think in a very forthright and straightforward way Stephen Smith delivered a very positive message about the intention of the government to continue to look after the Australian national interest but to do so with a view to the long term and to maximising the benefits for Australians of a strong relationship with China.
