Australia urged to view China positively

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Australia to “take off colored glasses” and be more positive about China’s development.

If Australia genuinely hopes for the bilateral relationship to get back on the right track and sustain healthy development, it should take a proactive approach toward China’s development, Wang said at a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

They were meeting on the sidelines of a G20 Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday.

Wang said China has adopted a development path different from other conventional powers.

He told Bishop China never interfered with the internal affairs of other countries, let alone engage in so-called infiltrating of others. “Our goal is developing partnership on an equal footing with all countries, including Australia, to achieve mutual benefits and win-win outcomes,” Wang said.

Bishop said Australia values its ties with China and sees China’s development as an opportunity rather than a threat.

China’s sustainable success is good for Australia and the rest of the world, and that’s the mainstream opinion in Australia, Bishop said.

Canberra is willing to show goodwill, rationally manage bilateral disputes, avoid misjudgments and continue to promote bilateral ties, she said.

Beijing has noted the statements of senior Australian officials asking to improve ties, and it is ready to communicate with Canberra on the issue, Wang said.

Last week, Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo visited Shanghai, which observers saw as an effort to mend the ties that included $125.6 billion in trade last year.

Experts said Canberra’s policy caters to the needs of its domestic politics, but does not conform to its interests.

Australia should not politicize its ties with China, said Xu Liping, a researcher at National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Protectionism brings a sustained, negative effect to the Australian economy, and it needs the Chinese market, Xu said.

After months of growing estrangement, there are positive signals that Australia is stepping up efforts to mend fences with China, a refreshing change of attitude that Beijing has welcomed. In a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ conference in Argentina on Monday, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said her country values its relations with China and sees China’s development as an opportunity rather than a threat.

And last week, in the first visit to China by an Australian minister in eight months, Steven Ciobo, the country’s trade minister, visited Shanghai, saying he hoped to repair ties with Australia’s largest trading partner.

These efforts to patch up ties were necessary because some members of the government chose to buy the claims that China was seeking political influence in Australia, and translated the media’s claims into legislation.

It is such bias and distrust, which emerges on Canberra’s part from time to time, that chokes the otherwise positive momentum of bilateral ties.

As Wang pointed it out in his meeting with Bishop, China constantly advocates no interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and it has no intention of trying to do so.

Canberra should know its suspicions — which have arisen because China follows a different development path — will only undermine the efforts the two countries have previously made to promote ties and cost them the opportunities that would be presented by greater cooperation.

There are some in Australia who regard the US alliance as an immutable foundation of Australian foreign policy, but that belief was forged in different times. Canberra should not give in to habit and simply follow Washington’s lead with its foreign policy. It should bear in mind that in recent years, each time China-Australia ties have taken a turn for the worse, the United States has been a factor.

Canberra should align itself with the region and work with Beijing to advance the regional trade agreement that has long been in the works.

China values a good relationship with Australia, and there is no fundamental disagreement pushing Beijing and Canberra apart. The differences that do exist can be bridged through talks.

Canberra should shake itself free of the past and work with Beijing to realize the promising potential of bilateral cooperation.