“On China, Morrison asked Kevin Rudd and Howard,” the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported on January 25 on this topic. Australian Prime Minister Morrison asked his two predecessors, John Howard, about how to deal with China.
Germany and Kevin Rudd. Moreover, the report also said that Morrison did not completely rule out the possibility of hiring two former prime ministers as his diplomatic envoys.
On the 25th local time, Morrison said that he “has always been open to those who have experience in related fields, and the two former prime ministers are very experienced in those fields”.
Morrison said that the breakdown of Sino-Australian relations is “an issue that I have discussed with Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia, on many occasions.” Not long ago, even recently, I was discussing this topic with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Morrison also said that Sino-Australian relations are an important and valuable bilateral relationship, and “we will seize any opportunity we think is most conducive to Australia’s development of this relationship”.
However, Morrison also insisted on the same day that any renewed dialogue with China would not be “unconditional”.
“Australia-China relations are very important to Australia. Sino-Australian relations are very important to China.
Of course, we will remain absolutely open and ready to meet and discuss any identified issues.” Morrison said, “But as I have shown, these discussions will not be based on any first concessions made by Australia on relevant issues.”
In addition, the report also mentioned that just two days ago, Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese wrote to Morrison, suggesting that he hire two former prime ministers, Rudd and Howard, as diplomatic envoys to help break the worsening “trade deadlock” between China and Australia. Morrison did not completely exclude this proposal.
In recent days, many senior Australian government officials have sent good signals to China.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on January 24, the new Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said in an interview on the 23rd that he had written to senior Chinese officials in the hope of providing an opportunity to break the current impasse.
On January 25th local time, Australian Treasury Minister Josh Frydenberg also said in an interview that Australia will continue to safeguard national interests, but he hopes to see tensions between China and Australia improve.
China’s position on the development of Sino-Australian relations has always been clear.
spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has said that China’s position on the development of Sino-Australian relations is consistent and clear.
We always believe that a healthy and stable Sino-Australian relationship is in the common interests of the two countries and the two peoples.
We hope that Australia will do more things that are conducive to mutual trust and cooperation between China and Australia and conform to the spirit of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Australia, so as to provide conditions for promoting China-Australian relations back on track.
