relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 – 17/05/19) 1. Australia and the US are old allies. China’s rise changes the equation. 11/05/19 Neil Irwin The New York Times To understand why the Trump administration has struggled to build a global coalition of allies in its trade war with China, it helps to understand what is happening in the rolling hills and valleys of Australia’s southeast and southwest coasts. Vineyards that once made many crisp white wines and fruity red ones popular with American buyers are now also producing more austere reds favored by a segment of a rapidly expanding market of Chinese drinkers. Since 2008, Australia’s wine exports to the United States have fallen 37 percent; exports to China have risen 959 percent. Around the globe, longtime allies are planning for a world in which the United States is no longer the economic center. For all the frustrations of doing business with China, including opaque government action and allegations of intellectual property theft, the sheer logic of economic geography is proving more significant than historical alliances. […] “Our interests are not identical to the U.S.,” Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to China who advises companies doing business in the two countries, said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have a close, warm relationship with the United States. But we cannot join the U.S. in a policy premised on China being a strategic competitor.” Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/11/upshot/australia-relationship- china-us-trade.html Geoff Raby is an Associate of China Matters. 2. Julie Bishop splits with Scott Morrison over 'customer' view of China China Matters Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 - 17/05/19) relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship 13/05/19 Tom McIlroy Australian Financial Review Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has split with Scott Morrison over Australia’s relationship with China, rejecting the Prime Minister’s description of the country as a “customer”. Campaigning in Sydney on Monday morning, Mr Morrison was asked his vision for Australia’s foreign policy. In a lengthy answer, he said “you stand by your friends and you stand by your customers as well”. Later, West Australian Liberals attended a rally with Mr Morrison in Perth. Ms Bishop, who quit as foreign minister after Malcolm Trumbull’s ouster as prime minister, is leaving politics. “I don’t see it that way at all,” Ms Bishop said. Read more (Paywall): https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/julie-bishop- splits-with-scott-morrison-over-customer-view-of-china-20190513-p51myg 3. Why China wants Shorten to win 13/05/19 Michael Smith Australian Financial Review An annual AFL game in Shanghai may be the unlikely setting for Labor's first China test if it wins the federal election. While getting a federal minister on an official visit to one of the most diplomatically complex countries on Earth will be a challenge less than a fortnight after being in government, it is not impossible. It is believed contingency plans are being drawn up to try and get the next trade minister, possibly Labor's Jason Clare or the incumbent Simon Birmingham, to China for the sporting event on June 2. Last year, Steve Ciobo became the first federal minister to turn up in China since a freeze on official visits was imposed by Beijing, a move some say the AFL helped negotiate. […] China Matters Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 - 17/05/19) relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship "China might open up to a visit but ultimately for the relationship to get back into good shape, it would require things to change in a substantial policy sense," says Geoff Raby, Australia's former ambassador to China. Read more (Paywall): https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/why-china- wants-shorten-to-win-20190509-p51lqn Geoff Raby is an Associate of China Matters. 4. China is the sleeping giant in the federal election campaign and it's not going away 13/05/19 Stan Grant ABC News The federal election campaign is reaching the back end, but China has finally found itself on the front page. […] Just weeks ago, I attended a China "masterclass" run by our premier security think-tank — the Australian Strategic Policy Institute — and came away profoundly disturbed. It was like entering a parallel universe, a world apart from the phoney Canberra consensus that we can "have it both ways" — remain bound to America and economically tied to China. These were people who see China up-close: journalists who had experienced first-hand the repressive regime, military analysts who know how great the risk of conflict is, economists who shiver at the prospect of a China economic melt- down, political scientists who doubt Xi Jinping can fulfil his dream of being President for life. No doubt Paul Keating would have accused them all of being "berko" China fear- mongers, but these were some of the best China brains in the business. Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-13/federal-election-china- sleeping-giant/11102342 5. China's activities in key marginal seat affect Labor, Liberal candidates China Matters Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 - 17/05/19) relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship 13/05/19 Farrah Tomazin and Nick McKenzie The Sydney Morning Herald The Chinese Communist Party has sought to build ties to candidates in the upcoming federal election, including in a critical Victorian seat that will help determine the next government. Chinese language documents have revealed the ALP’s Jennifer Yang and the Liberal Party’s Gladys Liu — who are contesting the eastern Melbourne electorate of Chisholm — have both attended events and been involved in groups backed by the Chinese government. The groups seek to push the Communist Party’s agenda throughout the Chinese diaspora. […] Last month for instance, Labor’s Senate candidate for NSW, Jason Yat-sen Li, called for Parliament to adopt targets for ethnic representation, saying Chinese Australians had been muzzled by allegations of foreign political interference out of fear of being labelled "a stooge for the Communist Party". Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/china-s-activities-in- key-marginal-seat-affect-labor-liberal-candidates-20190510-p51lzf.html Jason Yat-sen Li is a member of the China Matters Advisory Council. 6. Agribusiness leader sees China trade boost in Labor victory 13/05/19 Brad Thompson Australian Financial Review Elders managing director Mark Allison says a change in federal government may work in favour of farmers and Australian agriculture by boosting access to the Chinese market. Mr Allison said the agriculture sector would benefit from a more pragmatic approach to China and an open mind on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, two things that appear more likely under Labor rule. China Matters Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 - 17/05/19) relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship “In terms of our relationship with China, it seems that the opposition may have that more pragmatic view, which is something we would appreciate in agriculture,” he said. “At a federal level, we haven’t embraced the Belt and Road Initiative and seem to have viewed it more as a geopolitical play.” Read more (Paywall): https://www.afr.com/business/agriculture/agribusiness- leader-sees-china-trade-boost-in-labor-victory-20190512-p51mg5 7. Australia struggles for clarity on the South China Sea 14/05/19 Iain Henry The Interpreter Voters should know if their next government will conduct freedom of navigation operations in contested waters. The Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor has noted the absence of China discussion in Australia’s current election campaign, a state of affairs which prompted his colleague Sam Roggeveen to observe that “Bipartisanship on China is becoming a form of collusion”. Given that the Coalition seems to have decided against participating in a debate on foreign affairs, it is unlikely that the Australian electorate will learn anything more prior to Saturday 18 May when the polls open. However, this is not to say that the Coalition and Labor have identical policies on, or approaches towards, relations with the People’s Republic of China. One crucial aspect of this is Australia’s response to China’s expansion and coercion in the South China Sea. In mid-2016 the former Shadow Defence Minister, Stephen Conroy, said that Australia would have “failed the test” if it did not stand up to Chinese “bullying” in the South China Sea. He advocated authorising the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to conduct a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-claimed features there. In October 2016, the current Shadow Defence Minister – Conroy’s successor, Richard Marles – echoed this suggestion, saying that the RAN should be “fully authorised” to conduct such FONOPs. Read more: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-struggles- clarity-south-china-sea China Matters Media Roundup Issue 121 (11/05/19 - 17/05/19) relationship Each week China Matters collates news items about the Australia-China relationship 8. Outlet barred from Labor press conference for ‘anti-China’ stance 14/05/19 Heidi Han The Australian Labor has reached out to a Chinese-language news outlet which was barred from an ALP press conference by a third party organising the event for being “anti-China.” Organisers of a Chinese-language press conference for Labor’s Banks candidate Chris Gambian, Chinese internet company NetEase, confirmed they barred the Vision China Times in Australia for their stance on the Chinese Government.