Australia's Prime
Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at Hiroshima airport in Mihara, Hiroshima
prefecture on May 19, 2023, to attend the first day of the G7 Leaders' Summit.
(Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)
By Rebecca Zhu
May 21, 2023Updated: May 21, 2023
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed
Australia’s support for the leaders’ statement coming from the G7 summit
against China asserting its disputed claims in the Indo-Pacific region through
force and coercion.
“We have said for some time that China’s
activity, and we expressed concern for ourselves as well, the chafing of one of
our aircraft, the other activities that we’ve seen has provided concern. We’ve
expressed concern in the past, we’ll continue to do so,” he told reporters in
Japan on Sunday.
“What we need to do is to make sure that we
work in a way that enhances the peace, security, and stability in the region.
“We very clearly support the status quo when
it comes to the Taiwan Straits and that is Australia’s position—we’ve
consistently stated that.”
Albanese said that Australia’s position has
been well received at the G7 summit and that its partners had welcomed the
fact that Australia was back in dialogue with China.
“As President Biden has said to me on a number
of times, in his words, ‘You guys punch above your weight,’” he said.
In a lengthy statement, the G7 leaders said
they were prepared to build “constructive and stable” relations with China,
while seeking to address the country’s market-distorting economic practices.
“We will counter malign practices, such as
illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure. We will foster resilience
to economic coercion,” they said.
The leaders also said they opposed Beijing’s
militarisation and maritime claims in the South China Sea, which they said
there was “no legal basis” for.
“We remain seriously concerned about the
situation in the East and South China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral
attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
Quad
Meeting Squeezed In
The Australian prime minister arrived in Japan
for the rescheduled Quad meeting and was also invited to attend the G7 summit
outreach meetings.
Albanese was originally going to welcome the
leaders of Quad partnership, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister
Kishida Fumio, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the Sydney Opera House on
May 24. However, Biden pulled out, needing to return to Washington for debt
ceiling negotiations.
Quad leaders instead met on the sidelines of
the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss the vision of a peaceful
Indo-Pacific region that respects sovereignty, is free from intimidation, and
settles disputes in accordance with international law.
“While the Summit couldn’t take place in
Sydney as planned, I’m pleased to have convened a Quad meeting with
counterparts today to discuss pressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific
region and deepening the Quad’s cooperation,” Albanese said.
“The Quad Leaders coming together in-person
sends a strong message about Quad unity and what the group is able to achieve
together.”
The partnership announced it will strengthen the underwater sea cable networks in
the Indo-Pacific.
In collaboration with the island nation of
Palau, the Quad will also establish a deployment of Open Radio Access Networks,
the first in the Pacific, supporting countries to expand and modernised their
telecommunications networks.
The commitment to acting on efforts to
mitigate the predicted negative impacts of climate change was reiterated, with
an announcement for the development of a coordinated “Climate Information
Services Initiative” to share resources for early warning systems across the
region—including from the Weather Ready Pacific initiative and Pacific
Meteorological Council—and to accelerate the region’s renewable energy
transition.
Quad nations will also support health
initiatives in the Indo-Pacific through building up the region’s capacity to
detect and respond to any potential outbreaks of diseases that could turn
endemic or pandemic.
“At a time of fundamental change, challenge,
and opportunity in our region, we are determined to make a positive and lasting
contribution to the resilience and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific by leveraging
our resources and sharing our expertise,” the Quad leaders said in a joint
statement.
“The Indo-Pacific’s key challenges of health
security, rapidly changing technology, the grave threat of climate change, and
the strategic challenges facing the region, summon us to act with renewed
purpose.”
First-Hand
Experience
The call for a region free from force and
coercion by the leaders of both the G7 and Quad alliances come after Beijing
confirmed it will resume the importation of Australian timber, effectively
immediately.
In 2020, a number of Australian goods were
subject to arbitrary trade sanctions by Beijing in response to the Australian
Morrison government’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of
COVID-19, and the banning of China-based companies Huawei and ZTE from
involvement in Australia’s 5G infrastructure due to security concerns.
China’s ruling communist party (CCP) suspended
high level dialogue with Australia for three years, which began to thaw under
the Albanese Labor government.
In a rare media appearance, Beijing’s
ambassador to Canberra, Xiao Qian, told reporters that the CCP’s decision was
based on a “serious study” provided to Beijing by Australia on the quarantine
risks of Australian timber that had “satisfied the conditions of the Chinese
Customs.”
This follows Trade Minister Don Farrell’s
recent two-day trip to Beijing, where he returned to Australia without
concessions on Beijing’s trade bans.
The news also comes a month after Canberra
agreed to suspend an appeal to the World Trade Organisation over Beijing’s
tariffs on Australian barley.
Xiao said other trade disputes—such as those
applied to barley, wine, lobster, coal, and cattle—will be dealt with “one by
one.” He expressed hope that the disputes can be resolved “as soon as
possible.”
Henry
Jom contributed to this report.
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