Australia's Asia debate worryingly polarising
17 July 2017
This is an excerpt from an opinion piece first published by Fairfax Media on July 17, 2017.
I spent a few days in Australia listening to their conversations about Asia, on the basis that the conversation there could well in turn cross the Tasman and turn up here.
I confess that I found the conversation very different to the one here in New Zealand. On one hand, Australia’s Asia conversation, like the one here, is very focussed on China.
One of the underlying principles of Australian thinking — that China makes us rich; the United States keeps us safe — has taken a real knock from the emergence of Trump and concerns in the Australian system that this bedrock principle is not as strong as it once was. This is a fact of life New Zealand had to get used to after the ANZUS fallout in the mid-1980s. Add to this Australia’s geographic proximity and press coverage means the South China Sea issue is more front of mind for them than the occasional abstract debate here in New Zealand.
"New Zealand should learn from what’s going on in Australia and avoid such polarisation."
Meanwhile, Australia’s political establishment is involved with what is largely a beltway issue, around the reported purchase of Australian political influence by Chinese businesspeople of both Chinese and Australian nationality. This has then combined with reported increases in cyber-attacks from Asia against Australian businesses (the ongoing slump in iron ore exports to China has left some of the normally pro-business voices quite muted) and the turning down of a large infrastructure purchase in NSW on national security grounds.
The sum of all this is a very sharp debate in Australia about its relationship with Asia. That there is a debate is natural and, in its way, healthy. But what was most troubling for me was how polarised the debate was.
The appetite for any real debate — for instance, how the Chinese tradition of guanxi engages with the Westminster parliamentary system — appeared almost totally absent. New Zealand should learn from what’s going on in Australia and avoid such polarisation. We should be able to discuss calmly, rationally and respectfully our changing external environment and demographics.
