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To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (10005)	12/9/2022 2:05:05 PM
From: Broken_Clock	1 Recommendation Recommended By Cogito Ergo Sum Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13811

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To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (10005)	12/21/2022 7:30:36 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13811

Australian Foreign Ministe Wong arrives in China ahead of talks Tue, 20 December 2022 at 7:30 pm GMT+3·3-min read Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has arrived in China (to kow tow :-) on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Senator Wong landed in Beijing, where it was minus 4C, for a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in the early hours of Wednesday. She was greeted by Australia's ambassador to China Graham Fletcher and a representative of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the tarmac at Beijing Capital International Airport. The visit marks the first time in four years an Australian foreign minister has been invited to Beijing for diplomatic talks. Trade is expected to dominate the discussions between the two foreign ministers, following China's decision in 2020 to impose sanctions on multiple Australian exports. The detention of Australians in China - journalist Cheng Lei and academic Yang Hengjun - is also expected to be discussed. "It is very good to be here in China after quite a long time between visits," Senator Wong said on Wednesday. "I acknowledge and thank the government of the People's Republic of China for the invitation to be here so that we can spend the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries. "I look forward to the meeting." The minister confirmed she would raise issues related to consular cases, human rights and trade concerns. "We obviously have a lot of issues to work through," she said. The ministerial meeting follows a one-on-one discussion between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November. Opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham said Senator Wong needed to secure wins in advancing the cases of the two detained Australians Dr Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei and progressing the removal of trade sanctions against Australia, worth $20 billion. "Engagement from them (Beijing) is welcomed, the fact that they have ceased the counterproductive ban that they put in place on ministerial dialogue is welcome, but really to see a true stability, stabilisation of the relationship would mean that we see the unwarranted unfair trade sanctions lifted and unfairly detained Australians released," he told Sky News. It comes as Beijing's customs department started to encourage the purchase of Australian products including lobsters. Senator Birmingham said while the step was encouraging, Australian industry needed clarity about when their products could re-enter the market. He said China had appeared to ease off its aggressive "wolf warrior diplomacy" against Australia and other countries. Mr Albanese said the 50th anniversary of Australia-China diplomatic relations, which began under the Whitlam Labor government in 1972, was a major opportunity. "The anniversary ... provides an opportunity for both sides to reflect on the relationship and how it can be more constructive in the future," he said on Tuesday ahead of Senator Wong's departure. "The decision to establish diplomatic relations took ambition and courage but it was the right decision and the relationship has delivered benefits to both our countries, including through our strong economic, people to people, academic and business links."

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (10005)	12/21/2022 7:40:01 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13811

China offers Australia friendship but expects the full kowtow June 7, 2022 — 5.00am It started the moment the Albanese government was elected. The government of China started making overtures. Premier Li Keqiang sent the new Australian prime minister a note of congratulations. It was the first direct communication between the senior leadership of the two countries in 2½ years. “The Chinese side is ready to work with the Australian side,” he said, to “uphold the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit”. Next, Beijing’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said that “with this new government in power we are looking forward to a possible opportunity … so that we can put this relationship back on the right track”. The “political relationship” was the source of the problem, he said, and the onus was on the Australian side to make a concession. On the same day, China’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Wang Yi, said “the crux of the problem lies in the fact that some political forces in Australia insist on treating China as an adversary rather than a partner” and it was time to “seek common ground while shelving differences”. So, what’s Australia’s move? Australia is under pressure from Beijing on every front. Should Anthony Albanese take the opportunity for a reconciliation? He could claim a diplomatic coup and take the credit. But no. Three days after winning the election, Albanese made two key points about China relations. The first concerned the list of 14 demands that China’s embassy in Canberra issued to a Channel Nine reporter in November 2020. It begins with a demand that Australia relax its foreign investment rules for China and ends with a demand that Australia’s media stop making critical comments about China. The next day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing said Australia should “correct its errors”. “The truth is that Australia is a great democracy,” said Albanese in response to reporters’ questions. “The demands, which were placed by China, are entirely inappropriate. We reject all of them. We will determine our own values. We will determine Australia’s future direction.” Second was on China’s punitive bans on more than $20 billion worth of Australian exports. “Australia seeks good relations with all countries,” said Albanese. “But it’s not Australia that’s changed: China has. It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia. There is no justification for doing that. And that’s why they should be removed.” So the agitation for some sort of rapprochement is coming from only one side, China’s. And the new Australian leader has, in effect, declared two preconditions – withdraw the 14 demands and remove the trade bans. The response from Chinese officialdom? Ambassador Xiao told The Australian Financial Review that Beijing couldn’t drop the trade boycott because “it was not a political decision” but that each boycott on each product was imposed “on the merits of the individual cases”. This is nonsense. The trade bans are pure politics. And while he hasn’t been asked publicly about the 14 demands, Xiao has told Australian interlocutors privately that this had been a “gross misunderstanding”. Yet, he will not disown the demands publicly nor do anything to clarify this supposed “misunderstanding”. At the same time, Beijing has been increasing the pressure it applies to Australia. Recall that two Australian writers are being held in detention in China’s system of political “justice”. Blogger Yang Hengjun was detained in 2019 and reports being daily blindfolded and shackled to a chair and interrogated for hours, among other mistreatments. And broadcaster Cheng Lei was detained in 2020. Last week her partner, Nick Coyle, said she had been allowed no contact with her children or other family. Her only contact with the outside world, a monthly video conversation with Australian consular officials, had now been suspended. Because of COVID-19, supposedly. Apparently, you can catch it over a video link now. Asked about her case, Xiao said it was a legal matter and “should not be a problem” for relations with Australia. And we now learn China’s air force aggressively buzzed a RAAF surveillance plane on May 26. The Australian plane was on an entirely routine flight in international airspace over the South China Sea. So while China’s officials present a conciliatory face publicly, they maintain the existing political, economic and military pressures while adding new layers in less visible ways. Pretending to offer the hand of friendship, they are, in fact, demanding the full kowtow. Offering public platitudes and private pressures, they are seeing whether a new Australian government will crack. It’s a try-on. This is an astonishingly amateurish misreading of Australia. Why would Albanese make any unilateral concessions? He’s under zero pressure from anyone other than the regime of Xi Jinping. The industries under Beijing’s boycott have mostly adjusted and certainly don’t expect the Albanese government to capitulate. The Australian people strongly endorse Australian defiance, as polling shows. The new opposition leader, Peter Dutton, on Sunday promised to support the government doing “whatever actions they need to take to keep our country safe”. And countries around the world are looking to Australia as an inspiration in how to withstand the Chinese Communist Party’s coercion. Last week China’s government threatened New Zealand with trade boycotts. Jacinda Ardern had dared to voice concern over Beijing’s Pacific strategy and China’s human rights violations. Beijing would count it a tremendous victory for Australia to buckle, an example to countries everywhere. It is offering nothing, demanding everything. The Albanese government has no intention of buckling and no conceivable political gain from doing so. It does intend taking a changed approach, nonetheless. When he was on the opposition benches, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles often said the Morrison government took Theodore Roosevelt’s advice – that countries should “speak softly and carry a big stick” – and applied it in reverse. Dutton talked about “preparing for war” but had not equipped Australia with any long-range strike capability to hold an enemy at bay. Everything is on order, nothing is in on hand. Now that he’s defence minister, Marles is part of a government planning to apply the adage as Roosevelt meant it: to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric while hastening to acquire serious capability. That would be a sincere rejoinder to insincere overtures. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.