RUBY:

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

The growing diplomatic dispute between China and Australia took an ugly turn this week. After a series of disagreements on trade, human rights and foreign policy, a new spat marks what some commentators have described as the lowest point in the relationship between the two countries.

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno on the harsh realities of an increasingly dominant China, and whether Scott Morrison can navigate Australia through a period of growing tension.

**

RUBY:

Paul, the relationship between China and Australia deteriorated even further this week, and it's all because of a tweet. So tell me what happened.

PAUL:

Well, Ruby, on Monday, an official Chinese government account belonging to the Director Deputy General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, posted a photo shopped image of an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child in reference to allegations in the recent Brereton report of war crimes in Afghanistan.

Archival Tape -- Newsreader 1

“China has joined Russia in speaking out against alleged war crimes committed by Australian forces - spokesperson from China’s foreign ministry Zhao Lijian…”

Archival Tape -- Newsreader 2

“Australia and China are caught in a new diplomatic dispute over a confronting image…”

Archival Tape -- Newsreader 3

“A tweet from Beijing that has Canberra seeing red.”

PAUL:

Now, look, it was always intended to offend, but I suspect even its author must have been surprised at who responded and how vehemently. Not that Zhao is new to the trade of trolling on Twitter, in his role as ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomat in Chief, you know. This is increasingly China's modus operandi as its assertiveness on the world stage becomes more aggressive.

And its mouthpieces in Beijing in the Department of Foreign Affairs there, well they gain brownie points from their masters for widening their audience worldwide to the message: China has arrived and it's not to be messed with.

RUBY:

And so let's talk a bit about the reaction to this tweet from the Australian government, because it was a pretty strong response from the Prime Minister, wasn't it?

PAUL:

It certainly was. No sooner had the tweet appeared than the Prime Minister called a news conference via video link, as he remained in isolation after his trip to Japan.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“The post made today - the repugnant post made today - of an image..”

PAUL:

And within a matter of minutes, he was saying that the Chinese government should be totally ashamed of the post.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“It is utterly outrageous and it cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever.”

PAUL:

What clearly triggered his anger was what he described as a terrible slur on our great Defence Forces.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“It is deeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform, every Australian who serves in that uniform today…”

PAUL:

And Ruby, Labour leader Anthony Albanese was quick to agree. He told Parliament at the beginning of Question Time it was gratuitous, inflammatory and deeply offensive to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.

Archival Tape -- Anthony Albanese

“Thanks Mr Speaker. On indulgence, I join with the Prime Minister in his condemnation of the tweet directed at the men and women of the Australian Defence Force that was published earlier today.”

PAUL:

Morrison demanded an apology and for Twitter to take down the post. Neither has happened. Beijing, in fact, doubled down, accusing Australia of hypocrisy. The embassy in Canberra released a statement after its ambassador had been carpeted by the Head of our Department of Foreign Affairs, Frances Adamson. The Chinese embassy accused Morrison of attempting to stoke domestic nationalism. It dismissed the rage and roar of some politicians and media as a misreading and overreaction to the Zhao tweet. And said the charges against Zhao were to direct public attention away from the horrible atrocities by certain Australian soldiers, and to blame China for the worsening bilateral ties.

RUBY:

Right. So Scott Morrison's response did not lead to an apology, as he was asking for, but instead saw the Chinese government double down. So does that suggest to you that it was a mistake to go so hard in response to a tweet?

PAUL:

Well, you know Ruby, Morrison broke one of the cardinal rules of how to deal with insults and provocations on social media. One seasoned political strategist told me he always advises politicians not to feed the trolls. It's best not to bite because you only magnify their message and give them the attention they were looking for in the first place, which certainly happened with the Prime Minister.

Indeed, the situation was exacerbated by the fact that Morrison wasn't responding to his counterpart in the Chinese government, you know, to the Head of Government, but to a mouthpiece. Morrison elevated the slur to the top level, which would have been better dismissed by him as a pathetic stunt from a spin doctor. Perhaps what stung, though, was the false image was accompanied by a statement from the Chinese official that our government and military, well, they had to agree with it, it said ‘shocked by murder of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts and have called for holding them accountable.’ And Ruby, page 120 of the Brereton Report into the alleged war crimes notes Australian troops are accused of slitting the throats of Afghan children they suspected of being linked to the Taliban.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Paul, is there any sign that the Australian government is shifting its approach towards China after its initial response hasn't seemed to work out the way that it might have hoped?

PAUL:

Well, there were indications on Tuesday, Ruby, that the Prime Minister had some second thoughts about the reaction - on the phone to his party room he urged his colleagues to show restraint. He said the government response to the tweet is clear and that it doesn't, he said, ‘need further amplification.’ Our work, he now admitted, is focussing on establishing dialogue that allows us to steadily work through issues as governments. Well, China, no doubt, will be watching closely how seriously Australia goes about responding to the Brereton report.

RUBY:

Mm. And how is the government responding to the Brereton report, Paul? Because it's been just over a week now since it was released?

PAUL:

Well, I'd have to say the early signs aren't encouraging. On the day the government left General Angus Campbell on his own to announce the shocking findings of credible evidence of war crimes in Afghanistan...

Archival Tape -- General Angus Campbell

“Today the Australian Defence Force is rightly held to account for allegations of grave misconduct by some members of our Special Forces community on operations in Afghanistan”

PAUL:

The Defence Force chief also said he would be immediately revoking military honours for 3000 Special Forces troops.

Archival Tape -- General Angus Campbell

“I have accepted the Inspector General's recommendation and will write to the Governor-General requesting he revoke the Meritorious Unit Citation for special operations task groups who served in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013”.

PAUL:

But an organised backlash by Special Services veterans backed by the Daily Telegraph prompted the Prime Minister to overrule Campbell.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“Well I’ll leave it to the CDF to make further comments on the last matter that you made, but no decisions have been made on that. And were decisions to made on that, that would only be following a further process and that is where that matter rests right now…”

PAUL:

Now Ruby I asked the Prime Minister's office whether General Campbell still had the Prime Minister's confidence in the job and they still haven't responded. Army veteran and independent Senator Jacqui Lambie doesn't believe Campbell knew nothing of the alleged atrocities and says he's lost the confidence of the military under him.

Archival Tape -- Jacqui Lambie

“I can tell you, after 10 years in the army and what I'm hearing and, you know, evidence will come out eventually, I just don't believe that. There is just no way you could not know what was going on..”

PAUL:

Lambie's furious at how willing he was to implement the stripping of citations from Special Forces soldiers.

Archival Tape -- Jacqui Lambie

“I think we're all pretty upset that, first of all, they haven't looked at their own leadership, which is very upsetting in itself and what part they did not play or did play in this. And through those dig Australia under the bus to cover their own backsides. I think it's time for fresh blood…”

PAUL:

The independent senator is also irate at China's response to the Brereton report.

Archival Tape -- Jacqui Lambie

“I tell you what though, they certainly have not done themselves any favours by tweeting out that disgusting made-up mocked-up photo the other day, cos I tell you what now the rest of the world’s eyes are on them. And quite frankly they look despicable. I would suggest to China it have a look at its own backyard, at its own human rights, which are absolutely disgraceful…”

PAUL:

She's joined the chorus, asking what have we got to lose by standing up to China? She says the government should be looking to other markets because she believes China is looking to end all trade with us.

RUBY:

How likely is that Paul though, that we would see our government start to shift its focus away from China to other markets?

PAUL:

Well, we certainly need to diversify, but these kinds of calls, while they might be popular in some quarters, they show a complete lack of appreciation of the economic realities. We’d certainly be a much poorer place without China. It accounts for 35 per cent of our annual exports. Or Ruby to put it another way, one in three of every dollar we earn overseas comes from China. It's a huge market that can afford to pay for what we have to sell. So no wonder the Premiers, especially those from the resources states, Queensland and Western Australia, are urging the Federal government to work harder at repairing relations for the sake of thousands of jobs.

RUBY:

So how should we be navigating the situation then? Because diplomatic relations are at a low point, but we have a lot more to lose economically than China does. So what should we be doing?

PAUL:

Well, you're right about how poor the relationship is, Ruby. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - who you might remember began his career as a diplomat and served at our embassy in Beijing, speaks Mandarin as well - well, he told ABC TV that he'd never seen our relationship with China at a lower ebb. He suspects Morrison got the megaphone out to impress the Murdoch media, that he was not an appeaser of Beijing. And he also says China is pushing hard because they've got more power.

And Ruby, that's also the view of Hugh White, a former high ranking Defence Department official and longtime China watcher. White told Fran Kelly on RN breakfast, China is a powerful country now, and they can set the terms of the relationship.

Archival Tape -- Hugh White

“I think Scott Morrison’s mistake, and to be fair his predecessor’s mistakes, have been to imagine that we could continue to set the terms of the relationship..”

PAUL:

They're making a point that if we want access to the extraordinary opportunities that China offers, then White says we're going to have to be prepared to conduct ourselves on China's terms. And it's a choice for us to make as to how far we go with that. Now, White fears that Morrison hasn't been honest with Australians about this choice or maybe he doesn't understand it himself.

Archival Tape -- Hugh White

“It’s a big mistake to underestimate one’s adversary. I think it’s perfectly credible that the Chinese know what they’re doing, they think it’s worth stooping a bit in order to provoke Scott Morrison in this way, because they are reinforcing the message, and I think we need to be very cautious about assuming that lots of other countries are going to come in behind us..”.

PAUL:

But if the reactions to Morrison's standing up to China are any guide, it'll take some doing to bring public opinion around to the harsh realities of how economically dominant China has become, not only for Australia but for the rest of the world.

RUBY:

Paul, thank you so much for your time today.

PAUL:

Thank you, Ruby, bye.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today -

The Federal Health Minister says the Covid-19 vaccine rollout due to begin in the UK shortly will provide important data and lessons for Australia. The UK approved the Pfizer vaccine earlier this week. At least 60,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the UK since March.

And the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed that the state will ease restrictions on Monday, despite recording one new Covid-19 case. A hotel quarantine worker tested positive yesterday, ending the state's 26-day streak of no locally acquired cases.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. It’s produced by Ruby Schwartz, Atticus Bastow, Michelle Macklem, and Cinnamon Nippard.

Elle Marsh is our features and field producer, in a position supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

Brian Campeau mixes the show. Our editor is Osman Faruqi. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.
Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

New episodes of 7am are released every weekday morning. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app, to make sure you don’t miss out.

I’m Ruby Jones, see you next week