Research On Australia's China Policy (2007-2018)

From 2007 to 2018,Australia's China policy has been characterized by repetition and securitization.Australian government's repetition is manifested in politically pursuing enhancing China-Australia bilateral political positioning,but often touching China's core interests and making unwarranted accusations against China's human rights and religious policies;economically advocating to strengthen economic and trade exchanges with China,but hesitating about whether to conduct bilateral economic and trade cooperation.In terms of security,Australia has constantly changed its perception of China's military rise,cooperating with the United States as an "anti-China vanguard"while actively reducing security provocations against China.The securitization is manifested that Australian government' s attitude towards China has become tougher in recent years,and increasingly securitizes China-related issues and policies,which hinders the normal bilateral cooperation between China and AustraliaRegarding the influencing factors of Australia's China policy,the existing explanations mainly include the US-Australia alliance theory,China's rise theory,and domestic factors theory,but these explanations are not comprehensive enough to grasp the new characteristics of Australia's China policy,nor can it explain various China policies of different Australian governments.In view of this,this article believes it is necessary to open the black box of Australian domestic politics for in-depth analysisThis paper studies Australia's China policy from the perspectives of diplomatic decision-making model and leadership legitimacy.The article believes that Australia's diplomatic decision-making is made by a small group headed by the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister has a dominant position as well as a decisive influence in the diplomatic decision-making.However,in recent years,fierce party competition and intra-party competition have led to a reduction in the legitimacy of the Australian Prime Minister and frequent replacement of the Prime Minister,which has had a significant impact on Australia's China policy.On the one hand,as each Prime Minister's preferences for China's policies are different,Australia's China policy appears repetitive with the change of Prime Minister.On the other hand,in order to enhance the legitimacy of the ruling,the Prime Minister tends to cater to Australia's “China threat theory” and the tough claims of the Ministry of Defence and intelligence agencies,leading to the securitization of Australia's China policy.In the future,the development of China-Australia relations will still be greatly affected by legitimacy of the Australian leadership.