Essay by Eric Worrall
Another chapter in Australia’s increasingly incoherent climate policy and international diplomacy.
Penny Wong flags cooperation on climate change as Australia tries to reboot relationship with China
Minister also reiterates Australia’s expectation that China use its influence with Vladimir Putin to end Russian invasion of Ukraine
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has flagged working more closely with China on issues such as climate change as part of ongoing efforts to reboot the fractured relationship after years of public confrontation.
As Anthony Albanese signalled publicly his willingness to meet with China’s leaders during the week-long international summit season in Cambodia, Bali and Bangkok, Wong used a major foreign policy speech in Australia to articulate her objective to stabilise relations with China.
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Wong said her objective was to work out areas of “mutual benefit in our relationship, and we are open to working with China in other ways, including to address major transnational challenges like climate change”.
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Wong said Australia needed to tread its own path. “If Australia can be effective in our diplomacy, especially in multilateral and mini-lateral groupings, we have will more chance of upholding the international order, maintaining our independence, exercising our agency, and achieving the equilibrium that is the basis of sustainable peace and prosperity.”
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What are Australia’s government ministers attempting to achieve?
Do they believe if they cosy up to Xi Jinping, China will build fewer coal plants?
Do they think China has any motivation to try to end the Ukraine war, and to end the Western sanctions which have turned Russia into a captive supplier of cheap energy to China and India?
Does looking weak and needy in any way help Australia placate an increasingly belligerent Chinese leadership, or help the USA maintain a strong front against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea?
The phrase which comes to mind is “amateur hour”.
<img src=”” title=”Australian Government Hopes China will Lead on Climate Change and Peace in Ukraine” />
