China has imposed more than $20 billion of tariffs in response to various Australian moves including calling for a global inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 and banning Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its 5G rollout.
But in a column for the upcoming edition of the Labor-aligned John Curtin Research Centre’s flagship publicationThe Tocsin,Misha Zelinsky,the assistant national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union,warns while it makes political sense to blame the Liberals for “mishandling” a critical bilateral relationship,it may be counterproductive to winning government.
He said while the Coalition had sought trade opportunities with China under both prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott,it was Malcolm Turnbull and then Scott Morrison who made the harder calls with bipartisan support from Labor.
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The government’s stance culminated in alist of 14 grievances released by the Chinese Community Party as it sought to blame Australia for the collapse in bilateral relations.
“Assessing China’s list of issues with Australia should give pause to those who think there’s a way to return to the cosy old Howard formula,” Mr Zelinsky writes. “Those who somehow believe the challenge in the relationship is ‘tonal’ must answer:What would you give up from that list?”
Mr Albanese’s comments came after Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswomanPenny Wong last month accused the government of encouraging anxiety about war with China for domestic purposes.