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The PM isn’t Abbott, a Xi Jinping fan, or Morrison, who poked the panda. Instead he’s created a framework for China to re-engage with Australia.
Anthony Albanese with President Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)
It’s confusing trying to get a clear line from Australia’s Sinophobes about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Today Nine newspapers’ resident China hysteric Peter Hartcher declared “mission accomplished”, arguing that faced with a choice from Xi between “kowtowing” (always good to have a Chinese cliché) and “standing up”, “we stood up”. Hartcher says proudly: “The government made no substantive concessions to Beijing … Xi has undone almost all the elements of coercion policy. It was an embarrassing failure …”
Not so, says military-industrial complex consultant and Sky commentator Michael Shoebridge. “What has Australia had to give up to get this meeting and handshake? Quite a lot,” he insists, claiming Australia has repeatedly compromised and “each of these compromises … shifts the balance of influence and power in the region in Beijing’s favour”. Shoebridge told Sky Albanese’s visit was “propaganda gold” to Xi, which if nothing else seems to suggest the world watches Albanese with an intensity hitherto unsuspected by Australians.
Keep reading about how Albanese is either a sucker or a hero.
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About the Author
Bernard Keane
Politics Editor @BernardKeane
Bernard Keane is Crikey’s political editor. Before that he was Crikey’s Canberra press gallery correspondent, covering politics, national security and economics.
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