From Honeymoon to Hangover: Resetting Australia's Relations with China

Abstract

Australia has recently adopted a more robust stance towards China, culminating in new legislation on espionage and foreign interference. In economic terms, Australia has greatly benefitted from China's rise. In more recent times, however, concerns about Chinese interference in domestic politics as well as the PRC's assertiveness and influence-seeking in parts of Pacific Asia have come to the fore. Rapid increases in trade, tourism, and higher education-related exchange with China have helped to boost economic growth in Australia in recent years, while the respective governments have elevated bilateral relations to ever-higher levels. Public opinion about the growing ties with China has been more ambivalent, however. Especially since summer 2017, growing domestic concerns have been fuelled by reports about covert efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to influence both domestic politics and the public sphere in Australia. Concerns have also grown about China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea as well as influence-seeking behaviour in the South Pacific, a region of key strategic importance to Australia. What unites these domestic and international worries is a focus on threats to national security and rule-based order. The changing political mood has led to revamped internally and externally oriented security policies in Australia. These will provide government authorities with more military hardware and legal software. Initial Chinese reactions to the new policy directions have been harsh. The government in Canberra has recently sought to mend these frayed ties, but the honeymoon phase in bilateral relations is clearly now over. European Union member states and Australia share an interest in defending the rule of law at home, and also in promoting a liberal rules-based international order at large. They thus need to rebut foreign, not just Chinese, interference in domestic politics. In doing this, however, they should avoid scapegoating, and focus on fixing domestic legal loopholes. Policymakers and non-governmental actors in the European Union and Australia should also use bi- and multilateral dialogue formats to discuss perspectives and initiatives regarding both foreign interference and upholding the liberal rules-based international order.