Opinion

Australia needs better terms with China, yet refuses to meet Beijing halfway

Australia’s government has rejected China’s proposals for improving ties, claiming to be looking out for its own national interests

In reality, Canberra still views Beijing through the lens of the US-China great power game, which can only hurt its economy while boosting America’s

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media in Sydney on July16. Photo: EPA-EFE

Sameed Basha is a defence and political analyst with a master’s degree in international relations from Deakin University, Australia.

Published: 3:30am, 21 Jul 2022Updated: 5:25am, 21 Jul 2022

The olive branch extended by China has been met with furore in Australia, which had hoped China would lift sanctions imposed on critical industries like barley, coal and fisheries without preconditions. Rebuking China’s list of “demands”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demonstrated his convictions on not meeting China halfway by stating Australia “does not respond to demands”.

After all, what are the demands? In a nutshell, China wants Australia to treat it as a partner rather than an adversary, seek commonalities on issues while respecting differences, respect China’s relations with third-party countries and not sabotage those relations, and refrain from disinformation campaigns in its domestic media against the Chinese Communist Party.

These demands are highly reasonable to an independent observer, given Australia’s forward position against China in the last few years.