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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

Australia was one of the first western nations to recognise the communist government of China, almost 50 years ago.

But more recently, China appeared to freeze out Australia diplomatically, and for six long years Chinese President Xi Jinping did not meet an Australian Prime Minister.

This week, that changed. But how did the meeting come about? What was said? And can we restore diplomacy while continuing to speak vocally when criticism of the Chinese government is needed?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno, on how Anthony Albanese sat down with Xi Jinping in Bali.

It’s Friday, November 18.

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Archival Tape -- News Reporter 1:

“Anthony Albanese is set for a significant meeting with China's President-...”

Archival Tape -- News Reporter 2:

“A six year diplomatic freeze between Australia and China will end today-...”

Archival Tape -- News Reporter 3:

“Mr. Albanese says he's laying down no preconditions for that meeting and he's made clear that he believes will be the first in a process of meetings to re-engage with China…”

RUBY:

Paul, earlier this week Anthony Albanese had a one on one meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, and this is the first time that Xi has had a proper meeting with an Australian Prime Minister for six years.

So to begin with, why had it been so long and was Australia really an outlier when it came to relations with China for the past few years?

PAUL:

Yes, to start with, I have to agree it really was a sad state of affairs that it's been so long between drinks. Xi Jinping, after all, has kept relations open with China's fiercest rival in the United States. It's worth remembering he continued to have one on one meetings with the US president Donald Trump, and only the COVID pandemic kept him from meeting Joe Biden until this week. So whatever you think of Xi Jinping, he is willing to sit down with foreign leaders even when there are significant differences. And of course that made Australia's isolation very notable.

Now as to why it's been so long, well, Ruby, there've been a number of reasons, but in particular the former Coalition Government's rhetoric on China, which was aggressive, bordering on racist dog whistling. And it reached a low point during the early days of COVID. And I think this was a major factor in the delay in getting back together. You might remember the Coalition Government led the world calling for an international investigation into the origins of the virus and for U.N. mandated weapons style inspectors to be sent to Wuhan in China. It was as if our Prime Minister knew better than every other western leader and their intelligence organisations. Xi Jinping saw it for what it was, and he wasn't going to have a bar of it. He called it a witch hunt, and slapped 20 billion dollars worth of trade sanctions on some of our exports.

Archival Tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“It will be an extensive nine days, and a very busy nine days. We’re still finalising the programme…”

RUBY:

So the meeting this week is something that Albanese has been seeking out. He's been saying publicly for a few weeks now that he would like to meet with Xi Jinping. So tell me about the meeting, Paul. What do we know about how it came about and what the two said to each other after this long silence?

PAUL:

Well, Australia’s been pushing behind the scenes for such a meeting for years and since the election there were positive signals coming from Beijing. The sidelines of the G20 summit, which was held this week in Bali, was clearly an ideal opportunity and we saw President Xi took advantage of it not only to have a one on one with Prime Minister Albanese, but with 18 of the other world leaders as well.

Archival Tape -- Xi Jinping (translator):

“China-Australian relations have long been at the forefront of China's relations with developed countries, and they deserve to be cherished by us.”

PAUL:

Well, at the opening of the meeting, in his public remarks, President Xi told a delighted Albanese that he attached great importance to the Australian leader's opinion of the relationship.

Archival Tape -- Xi Jinping (translator):

“Since Mr. Prime Minister took office. You have made a number of remarks on China-Australian relations on a number of occasions and have repeatedly said that you will deal with China-Australian relations in a mature manner. I attach great importance to your opinion.”

PAUL:

Well, afterwards, a beaming Albanese described a 32 minutes tête-à-tête as very positive and constructive discussion.

Archival Tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“It was a very positive and constructive discussion and I was pleased that it was held. We know that China is Australia's largest trading partner…”

PAUL:

He said both agreed how we have highly complementary economies. In fact, the value of our exports to China is double that of our imports. For now, of course, the trade restrictions China put on certain Australian exports remain in place.

Archival Tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“It is clearly in Australia's interest to export some of the foreign products that we have. It's in China's interest to receive those fine products. And so it was a very constructive discussion.”

PAUL:

Albanese told journalists after the meeting that expecting the Chinese government to lift them after one sit down meeting was unrealistic. But there was progress and that progress was welcome back home in Australia, where business groups praised Albanese's diplomacy in Asia, and particularly with China, for helping to stabilise relationships.

RUBY:

And before the election, Paul, the Coalition tried to make a point of saying that Anthony Albanese would, in their words, appease China. So is there any risk that this reset in the relationship with China, that could get turned into a political debate back home?

PAUL:

Well Ruby, certainly it has been used as a political weapon in the recent past. It was only in February this year that Scott Morrison called Labor's Deputy Leader Richard Marles a Manchurian candidate for calling for closer ties with China.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison:

“And then there was of course, the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party when he went up to Beijing. Mr. Speaker. And you won't be able to find the speech that he gave to the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Mr. Speaker. He's taken it off his website. We’ve got another Manchurian Ca-...”

PAUL:

It was a reference to a Cold War film where a political candidate was brainwashed by the enemy Soviets. And not to be outdone at the time, Peter Dutton plumbed what was described as new and dangerous depths, suggesting China was backing Labor, and Albanese was its candidate.

Archival Tape -- Peter Dutton:

“The Chinese Communist Party, The Chinese Government, has also made a decision about who they're going to back in the next federal election, Mr. Speaker. That is obvious Mr. Speaker, and they have picked this bloke as their candidate Mr Speaker!”

Archival Tape -- The Speaker:

“The Leader of the House will resume his seat.”

PAUL:

He told Parliament, “only the Coalition can be trusted not to appease China”. A loaded word.

But I have to say, Ruby, this kind of rhetoric clearly didn't play with most Australian voters and I believe it won't derail the repair work being done on the relationship with China. In fact, Peter Dutton last week met with the Chinese ambassador in Australia. Apparently now engaging with the People's Republic is no longer appeasement as if it ever was.

You know, it unmasks the dumb opportunism of the earlier attacks and the Liberals are still counting the cost of the Chinese Australian voter backlash in Bennelong, Chisholm, and to a significant extent in other seats. The truth is that the relationship with China is complex and it does need mature and sophisticated handling. And Ruby we’re just a few weeks away from the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam Labor governments establishing relations with what used to be called Red China. It was a hugely seminal event in Australia's subsequent prosperity, and there are still lessons to be learnt from how it was handled.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Paul, we're coming up on the 50th anniversary of Australia opening diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. And China is a very different place today, isn't it, to then? But what should we be taking from that time that might be able to help us today as top level talks resume?

PAUL:

Well, the world and China are both very different. Remember at the time the People's Republic was still an international pariah and most of the West didn't recognise the Communist Government in Beijing. China was also still contending with mass poverty, with hundreds of millions living in desperate circumstances. So relations came at a pivotal time for China, and it's something that is keenly remembered by the Chinese leadership today. In fact, Xi Jinping noted in his meeting with Albanese that this year marked the 50 years since the opening up, and an official communique from the Chinese noted that China-Australian relations had led the way of China's relations with developed countries.

Archival Tape -- Gough Whitlam:

“The great powers are rethinking and remoulding their relationships and their obligations. Australia cannot stand still at such a time. We cannot afford to limp along with men whose attitudes are rooted in the slogans of the 1950s, the slogans of fear and hate.”

PAUL:

It was, as I said, Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who in 1972 against fierce opposition from the Liberals, made this breakthrough.

Archival Tape -- Gough Whitlam:

“The Australian Labor Party, vindicated as we have been on all the great issues of the past, stands ready to take Australia forward to her rightful, proud, secure, and independent place in the future of our region!”

PAUL:

At the time, he said, Australia agreed on principles to guide the relationship based on equality, mutual respect, and benefit, and a commitment to co-exist peacefully. And as Albanese said in his meeting with Xi, these principles remain important today.

Archival Tape -- Penny Wong:

“The China of today is not the same as the China of the 1970s, or even the 2000s…”

PAUL:

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, in a major speech last weekend marking the recognition and how it came about, drew some powerful parallels with what we've seen in present day Australian politics.

Archival Tape -- Penny Wong:

“We've had a relationship for 50 years. It's been in a difficult place. The important way of thinking about it is to stabilise the relationship and seek to find a way of managing what will be ongoing differences at times…”

PAUL:

She traced events before Whitlam's election. Then Liberal Prime Minister Billy McMahon launched a scathing attack on Labor's early moves from opposition to develop China policy. Wong quoted McMahon saying, China has been a political asset for the Liberal Party of the past and is likely to remain one in the future. She says he was doing it in the Liberal’s tradition of capitalising on xenophobia and anxiety over Communism.

Archival Tape -- Penny Wong:

“Australia was made. I don't believe Australia was made any safer, nor do I believe human rights were any more promoted, because the previous Coalition Government decided that playing domestic politics with the China relationship was sensible. And I'm pleased to see that Mr. Birmingham and Mr. Dutton appear -Senator Birmingham and Mr. Dutton appear to be resigning from that approach.”

PAUL:

Well, as I mentioned, that world view is no longer working at the ballot box.

RUBY:

Okay. But it's worth remembering that China is a very different place today. It's got a far more aggressive posture in the region. And Xi Jinping has made no secret of his ambitions to expand his Government's control to take in Taiwan. So, is there a risk that in Labor's rush to restore relations they could make a miscalculation here and fail to put diplomatic pressure on China when it's needed?

PAUL:

Well, I guess there's always a risk, but so far Albanese has shown he's willing to have difficult conversations in Australia's national interest. In his first meeting, he told Xi Jinping that while Australia supported the One-China Policy that accepts Taiwan as part of China and not an independent country, which by the way, it's a position also reaffirmed by Joe Biden when he met the Chinese leader.

Albanese, like Biden, also told China that Australia supported the status quo on Taiwan, laying down that Australia wants to see peace in the Taiwan Straits. The Prime Minister also raised the case of two Australian citizens currently imprisoned in China directly with Xi.

Archival Tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“We’ll cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, and act in the national interest.”

PAUL:

Dialogue, Albanese says, is always constructive and we need to work towards our mutual interest.

Well, it certainly echoes Whitlam's first description of this vital relationship.

RUBY:

And Paul, finally, you mentioned that China didn't immediately end trade sanctions on Australia. And so I have to ask, are we going to see some real results from the renewal of top level talks? Is this all a bit of diplomatic choreography for the cameras, or will we see real changes that actually help people?

PAUL:

Well, you know, Ruby, it's estimated that there was a loss of $20 billion worth of exports thanks to Beijing's bans on certain Australian products. But in the aggregate, the policy hasn't damaged Australia in the way Beijing may have intended. Indeed, some China experts are suggesting that Beijing itself has been a loser in this crude use of trade coercion.

Diplomatic insiders say the initiative for the Albanese's summit, in fact, came from China after the election. The change of government gave cover for China to back down from what was an unwise policy from the start. However, we are still to see the positive results. But Professor James Laurenceson at The Australia-China Relations Institute is confident the icebreaking meeting will flow through the Chinese system for a restoration of more normal trade. Opening the way for a return to engagement with our universities and other people to people activities, especially like lucrative tourism.

Of course, we have to be clear eyed about our place in the world and our national security. But at the same time, encourage China to live up to sentiments expressed by President Xi Jinping at the Bali summit, where he called for international cooperation and the maintenance of peace in our region and the world. Keeping the lines of communication open is, as Prime Minister Albanese says, a very good and necessary place to start.

RUBY:

Paul, thank you so much for your time.

PAUL:

Thank you. Ruby Bye.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

The ACT is reviewing its Evidence Act to allow for recorded evidence to be used in retrials, rather than requiring victims and witnesses to re-testify.

The legislative review was revealed in The Australian newspaper and later confirmed by the ACT Government. The newspaper linked the legislative review to the trial of Bruce Lehrmann.

After former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins spent days in the witness box giving evidence, the case ended in a mistrial, and is scheduled to be reheard next year.

And…

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, was spotted in the background of a selfie taken at the launch of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

In a photo posted to Instagram, Rinehart appears over the shoulder of Eric Trump, one of the former President’s sons.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Alex Tighe, Zoltan Fecso, and Cheyne Anderson.

Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Brian Campeau mixes the show. Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

I’m Ruby Jones -see you next week.

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