Australian Labor Party’s China Approaches (1949-2010)

This dissertation is a study on the evolution of the Australian Labor Party’s China approaches in the past 6 decades. The author found that there were marked differences between the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and its rival parties in terms of China policies. The Australian Labor Party demonstrated relative consistency in its approach towards China over the sixty-odd years, in office as well as in opposition. The partisan differences in Australia with regard to China and the ALP’s consistency in this respect are the two focal points of the whole dissertation.Looking through the contemporary history of Australia, one will find that the ALP has time and again proved itself capable of making positive contributions to the Sino-Australian relationship. In Australia, diplomacy did not assume much importance until the Second World War. The relatively short period of time since Australia set out to develop its own diplomacy meant that neither the ALP nor the newly founded Liberal Country Party (LCP) was fully prepared to tackle the complicated situation that the newborn People’s Republic of China presented. What differentiated the ALP from the rival LCP coalition had much to do with the different modes of thinking of the parties’leadership. The ALP, which was in office during the war time, developed its foreign policy expertise through fighting wars and making peace. The wartime exigency required the ALP leaders to make decisive moves when a Japanese invasion was imminent, which necessitated Australia’s turn from Britain to the United States for assistance. It was the beginning of Australia’s dependence on the US in major security issues. Australia’s participation in the preparation of a post-war international order was of great importance too. Led by H.V. Evatt, the Foreign Service team of the ALP government did a commendable job in the promotion of human rights in UN and the self-determination of new nation states in the region, which helped instill an element of internationalism in the party’s foreign policy thinking. The ALP’s commitment to the creation of a fair and equitable world order through multilateral mechanisms has become an important trademark ever since.The LCP, which ruled during the height of the Cold War, developed a form of inertia out of such dependence. Such inertia, combined with its habitual propaganda crusade against the so-called threat from Chinese communists, prevented it from according recognition to China even when the US was readjusting its China strategy in order to seek a rapprochement with its erstwhile enemy. The ALP got its revenge for being discredited for its sympathy with China in a most dramatic way as the unfolding of events following Whitlam’s icebreaking visit to China justified the validity of ALP’s China policy, while exposing the LCP administration’s obtuseness. Whitlam’s diplomatic feat predisposed his electoral success in the following year. The Australians realized what a difference a leader of independent thinking could make. The resolution of the outstanding issues related with diplomatic recognition within one month after Whitlam was sworn in office paved the way for the mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in the following decades. Two important principles crystallized from Whitlam’s diplomatic success were that Australia should engage China even under adverse circumstances and that Australia should respect China’s core interests over the Taiwan issue. Whitlam’s ALP successors adhered to the principles and each of them made constructive contributions to the Sino-Australian relationship in their own ways. In the 1980s Hawke identified the economic complementarities between the two countries and, more importantly, implemented various cooperation initiatives, which helped China develop closer ties with Australia. Such ties proved crucial to the restoration of relationship after 1989. Paul Keating built on the success of APEC and brought into being APEC summit meeting, where Chinese leaders can communicate with heads of APEC member states on matters ranging from trade and investment to security. Kevin Rudd started with a zhengyou concept in engaging China and believed in a more open and candid approach in tackling the differences between China and other countries, though Rudd also went through some difficult time with China.It is true that successive ALP leaders were intent to project their sets of values in their diplomacy, including free trade, promotion of human rights, more equitable international order, and, more recently, the common undertaking to reduce the carbon emission. They were nevertheless aware of the intricacy of the interplay between major powers. Hawke promoted free trade at the time when the Cold War fervor abated and China was eager to attract foreign investment and technologies to develop its national economy. The ALP government in the early 1990s initiated human rights dialogue with China, which contributed to Australia’s withdrawal of support for the US-sponsored anti-China bill at UN human rights conference in later years. It has become the consensus of the ALP leaders that the best approach to advance the national interests of Australia would be to combine principles with sobriety. In retrospect, one will find that it is always easier for the ALP leaders to pursue their objectives if the Sino-US relationship is in good shape. However if the Sino-US relationship gets bumpy as China is emerging as a major power in the region, it would involve more challenges for the ALP leaders as they have to balance numerous other factors.In comparison, the Liberal Party, together with its Country or National Party ally, was lacking in initiatives and its approach towards China was less than principled. It was ready to side with the US on controversial issues and its stand on the Taiwan issue was dubious even after the establishment of formal diplomatic relationship between China and Australia. Before the ALP returned to power in 1972, the LCP government was an advocate of the dual recognition of both the PRC and Taiwan. In the meanwhile it sought to benefit from trading with China. In the Cross-Strait confrontation in 1996 the Liberal government immediately gave its support to the US military intervention. During Howard’s decade-long tenure, the Liberal National Party Coalition (LNP) government rode on the waves of the expanding bilateral economic cooperation, while stressing the differences between the two countries in terms of values and social systems. While the ALP tends to take active measures to resolve the differences between the two countries, the LNP seems more intent to pursue benefits. So far the pattern that "the ALP initiates and the LCP or LNP follows up" has been valid.Tracing the 60-year history in the development of Beijing-Canberra links, the dissertation studies how successive ALP leaders contributed to the evolution of the bilateral relationship from fear to friendship. Comments made by the ALP leaders and their counterparts in the Liberal Party on different occasions are compared, especially those made on divisive issues like diplomatic recognition, Tian’anmen Incident, and Cross-Strait relations, to highlight the partisan differences. Best efforts have been made to put the remarks in perspective. Motives are analyzed and certain conclusions are thus drawn. The ALP’s track record in China-related issues has proven that the party, especially the attitude of its leaders, has been true to ALP’s long-held diplomatic tradition of activism and multilateralism.