The humiliating, disdainful and provocative treatment of the Australian Government by the Chinese Government is the direct consequence of confused and muddled foreign policy objectives that the Prime Minister Rudd has been pursuing in China since 2007, Senator Russell Trood the Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee said today.
Senator Trood acknowledged that Australia should not allow itself to be pushed around by China, particularly where freedom of speech is concerned, but pointed out that the Rudd Government has been sending mixed messages to the Chinese leadership since his election in 2007, which may help explain the cause of disdain with which China has treated the Australian Government of late.
“On one hand, we have a Prime Minister who proclaims a commitment to a deeper engagement with China and who made a big fuss of advocating for China to be included in international discussions on everything from global security to the global financial crisis.
“On the other hand, this very same Prime Minister then produces a Defence White Paper which thinly veils China as a military threat to the region and makes very unsubtle allusions to an arms race.
Senator Trood said that Prime Minister Rudd made a mistake by casting himself as a China and foreign policy expert who has leverage with the Chinese political elite.
“Mr. Rudd has been far too confident about his special relationship with the Chinese. Consequently, he has clearly felt that he can allow to be more outspoken than his predecessors.
“The result has clearly been disastrous for the bilateral relations. The Chinese are increasingly letting it be known that they regard his handling of relations as inappropriate and immature – revealing, as most have always suspected, that the Prime Minister has no special clout in China whatsoever.”
Senator Trood said that Mr. Rudd’s preoccupation with micromanagement has contributed to the diminishing regard in which the Prime Minister is held by the Chinese leadership. He also pointed out that Prime Minister’s determination to monopolise policy formulation has put DFAT into “an embarrassing strategic paralysis”.
“The problem with Mr. Rudd running the diplomacy show is that he is inconsistent, and Australia can ill afford it.
“Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of foreign affairs would realise that creating a diplomacy vacuum is both unwise and dangerous, particularly where such an important relationship is concerned.
“And the worst part of it is that this diplomacy vacuum is filled only every once in a while, with announcements from Rudd which both confuse and irritate the Chinese.”
Senator Trood encouraged a return to the consistent line of policy which would emphasise ‘shared interests and mutual respect’ between the two countries.
Senator Trood said that the recent and rapid deterioration of relations between Australia and China underscores the fact that the Rudd Government has a long way to go before it can provide Australians with convincing evidence of its ability to successfully advance and protect Australia’s national interests.
He urged for the Rudd Government to “re-position high public expectations of Australia’s ‘special’ relationship with China, undertake an immediate review of Sino-Australian relations and develop a strategy to establish a functional working relationship based on mutual respect and common interests.
“Stephen Smith should have Australians believe that our relationship with China is now ‘stronger and more broadly based than ever before’, and Kevin Rudd wants Australian diplomacy to be ‘the best in the world’, but recent series of embarrassing incidents have exposed both a breakdown in bilateral relations and the short-comings of our diplomacy,” Senator Trood concluded.
Senator Russell Trood
18 August 2009
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