China and Australia’s foreign ministers are both adept at the art of making frenemies. It’s working for now, but for how long?
, China’s number one diplomat, has been filed away diplomatically as another episode in what the government calls the “stabilisation” of bilateral ties.
Such actions might be stabilising, but only in the sense that they are designed to balance or deter China, not settle things down and pretend problems have disappeared.The Chinese have a better phrase which describes much of their current foreign policy, and perhaps relations with Australia as well. To quote, the two countries are “embracing, while fighting”.
Foreign minister is the least of Wang’s titles, and he only occupies that position as a placeholder because Xi Jinping’s choice for the job, Qin Gang, disappeared in a cloud of scandal last year.Wang had already served as foreign minister for nearly ten years, from 2013 until later 2022. His real status is as a member of the Politburo. For the moment, he wears two hats.
Perhaps that’s because Wong herself is no slouch at “embracing while fighting” as well. It is, after all, a core competency in Labor politics., have been “embracing while fighting” each other in South Australian factional politics for much of their professional lives. Australians naturally see things through Australian eyes. But it goes without saying that the Chinese stabilisation narrative is playing out in different degrees in many of Beijing’s foreign relationships.have laboured hard to cool the temperature of bilateral ties
But Beijing’s animus towards Washington, which was thick in the air in Wang’s Canberra meetings, will endure whoever wins the White House.
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