Australia’s Post-2009 Attitudes And Policies Towards China Mirrored In Australian Defence White Papers

Produced by Australian Department of Defence,Australian defence white papers are the official documents on Australia’s defence strategy.Based on an assessment of the current global strategic environment and a prediction of the future situations,Australian defence white papers measure existing and potential risks posed to the country’s national security,set out a long-term plan about how to develop the capabilities of Australian Defence Force and counter or reduce risks that Australia might be confronted with.Besides,these documents analyse and evaluate the bilateral relations,especially defence relations,between Australia and regional and global major powers,from which Australia’s attitudes and policies towards these nations can be learnt.Till now,there have been a total of seven Australian defence white papers published in1976,1987,1994,2000,2009,2013 and 2016 respectively.As a rapidly developing major power in both the Asia-Pacific region and the world,China is an increasingly important consideration when the Australian Government designs its defence strategy.Generally speaking,the China policy adopted by the federal government is characterised by ambivalence.On one hand,the Australian government takes a positive attitude towards China’s economic contributions to the region as well as the whole world.On the other hand,it often expresses groundless worries over the growth of China’s military capacity.The positive and negative parts of Canberra’s attitudes to Beijing are sometimes relatively balanced and other times fail to reach a balance in the defence white papers.From 2009 on,Australia’s perception of China has turned more negative,contributing to the increasing deterioration of Sino-Australian relations,especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.In order to find out why Australia’s approaches towards China have undergone tremendous changes since 2009,this thesis employs Australian defence white papers as major research basis and targets the shift in Australia’s attitudes and policies towards China since2009 as the research object.It will first introduce the research background,significance,structure,methodology and objectives of the thesis,followed by a historical review of Australia’s perception of China before 2009 by studying the four defence white papers released from 1976 to 2000.Next,it will focus on analysing the shift in Australia’s attitudes and policies towards China reflected in the three defence white papers released since 2009.A thorough examination will be made as well on the 2020 Defence Strategic Update,the latest document on Australia’s defence policy at the time of the thesis writing,explaining how the current Morrison government perceives Australia’s strategic circumstances and other countries of significance to the nation.On the basis of profound and detailed exploration,this thesis finds and claims that Canberra’s post-2009 changes in its China policy largely owe to three contributing factors:Australia’s contradictory perception of China,US-Australia alliance and Australia’s middle power strategy.This study conclusively argues that although there appears no sign of reconciliation between China and Australia in the near future,yet the crisis in the bilateral relations may force Canberra to rethink and review its China policy,especially its view on the rise of China,for the bilateral relationship to be back on the right track characterised by mutual benefit,mutual understanding and mutual trust.