Rudd returns, preaching third way on China
Originally published by The Australian, 09 Nov 2010
By Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent
THE Foreign Minister delivers a subtle but still worthwhile message.
WHAT a difference a year can make. This time last year, Australia’s relationship with its largest trading partner had ebbed to its lowest level since at least 1996, and possibly farther back. Kevin Rudd, the country’s most famous Mandarin speaker, had been supposed to take our burgeoning, complementary relationship with China to new heights.
In reality, he was on a hiding to nothing as the increasingly partisan debate over foreign investment and tensions over iron ore pricing spilled into the murky world of China’s legal system with the arrest, and later conviction, of four executives from Rio Tinto following the company’s rejection of a $19 billion investment by the Chinese government’s Chinalco. This was coupled with a warning from the Australian Defence Department that China may at some stage prove a military threat and the granting of visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the outspoken exiled leader of China’s Muslim Uighur minority and a woman China’s leaders have branded a terrorist.
Rudd’s idea of a “third way” to approach China – which has been roughly dismissed by some commentators – is a subtle but worthwhile message. He says that the world needs to come to a more sophisticated understanding of and relationship with China that is not black or white, that is not fear and aggression or ever-bending to Beijing’s increasingly powerful will. It is a message not just for the rest of the world but also for the Chinese. The message is that the Chinese, too, must not regard every action by the West as being from either an enemy or friend. Chinese leaders must take a more measured view of the actions of other nations. This will involve a change of mindset in Beijing, which has shown disturbing signs of aggression and a lack of diplomatic finesse in recent months. We hope they will listen.
“The East Asian region needs cool heads and patience to deal with a number of sensitive issues, left over from history,” Rudd said. “We need a regional order which continues to embrace the positive and stabilising role of the US. Our region also needs to evolve confidence- and security-building measures as other regions have done in the past. In the case of China and Japan and the recent debates on disputed islands – we believe diplomacy should prevail.”
Australia has an increasingly delicate path to tread. The US is our long-term defence and ideological ally and that will not change any time soon. Yet China is our most important economic partner, underpinning our remarkably resilient economy. Even this week’s meetings between Australia’s leaders and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates will provide an early test. But keeping the balance right between China and the US is critical to our future.
Rudd was not afraid to touch on live economic issues either, raising perhaps the global topic du jour, China’s currency.
“One continuing challenge for the future is the balance to be struck between China’s need to boost its domestic economy to support global growth, and the wider global emphasis on fixing budgets and sustainably lifting growth. This challenge is reflected in the recent debate between China and US on the valuation of the currency,” he said.
We might be all the way with Barack Obama on defence but, like others, also keen to temper Washington’s economic fury towards the Chinese with a more measured view on how best to rebalance the out-of-kilter global economy.
“Australia’s view is that consideration of exchange rate policy should not be dealt with in isolation – it should be considered in the context of broader structural reform necessary to promote sustainable growth in all economies,” Rudd added. “It should also be considered in the context of reducing global public debt and global budget deficits.”
Bravely, too, Rudd raised the thorny issue of the incarceration of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo with Foreign Vice-Minister Cui Tiankai during his visit, at a time when Beijing is muttering dark warnings against anyone who attends the prizegiving next month. This is something the disappointing UN chief Ban Ki-moon noticeably failed to do on his recent visit to China.
Having somehow failed to show the required leadership on the China relationship that is so vital to Australia in his last year and half of running the country, as Foreign Minister Rudd stepped up and led the way very publicly last week, shaping Australia’s response to last year’s troubles in a way that was certainly no kowtow.
Together with the nicely calibrated and well received visits by his colleagues last week, he has shown that things between Australia and China appear to be nicely back on track.