Australian politicians play ‘ China card’ hard ahead of elections

As the 2022 Australian federal election approaches, both Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s administration and opposition politicians are playing the “China card” hard to undermine their opponents. Chinese experts said that Beijing should have no illusions about Canberra, given the political influence from the US and the likely continuation of Morrison’s rude China policy.

The foreign affairs spokesperson of Australia’s opposition Labor Party Penny Wong on Tuesday vowed the party will establish a “Pacific defense school” to train neighboring armies in response to “China’s potential military presence on the Solomon Islands,” Australia’s ABC News reported.

Labor’s words came after Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton’s remarks, in which he compared China and Russia to Nazi Germany before World War II, and brazenly said Australia can only “preserve peace by preparing for war,” Australian media reported Monday.

“Certain Australian politicians often seek selfish political gains by making wild remarks to smear China and clamor for a war. Such despicable moves are seen through by the Chinese people and the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

There is a structural contradiction between Australia’s Monroe Doctrine policy and China’s development of Pacific island relations, said Ning Tuanhui, an assistant research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

China announced the signing of a security pact with the Solomon Islands last week, stressing a mutually beneficial cooperation instead of sensitive military alliance.

Targeting Morrison, Labor said the pact is Australia’s “biggest policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.” On April 21, Morrison attacked Labor’s Anthony Albanese for “taking sides with China.”

Ning said that smearing China is essentially a tool of Australian recriminations during the election. Moreover, he noted that the two Australian parties take increasingly similar stance on China affairs, behind which must be the coordination from Washington.