'All symbolism and no spine': Albanese leaving China with questions on whether Australia will throw Taiwan to the wolves is unsettling

Sky News AU

4 days ago

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese smiled for the cameras on the Great Wall of China this week sending the wrong message to our allies but the right one to President Xi Jinping.
We cannot pretend this was simply a friendly diplomatic visit.
It was scheduled while we were shoulder-to-shoulder with the US and Japan who undertook a massive war games exercise involving 40,000 personnel from 19 nations.
The military message to China was crystal clear - any 'act of aggression' in the Asia-Pacific won't go unanswered because America and its partners are prepared to respond. Together.
Our Prime Minister was meanwhile being feted by the very regime causing military tension along our eastern seaboard and after six days got nothing meaningful in return.
You can bet the narrative would be very different if it were six days in the US with President Donald Trump.
That relationship, meanwhile, chafes with neglect.
As guests of the CCP, Australia got a 'no immediate outcome' on the release of incarcerated Australian writer Yang Hengju, imprisoned for six years now by Chinese authorities on spying charges, or the other Australian detainees.
Yes, we got a promise that China will give us more notice before launching military exercises near our coast.
But that's a token gesture.
Firm commitments on trade? Nope.
But Mr Albanese did get a thumbs up from state-owned media China Daily which patronisingly declared that we, as a nation, now have a 'clearer understanding' of China's focus than former PM Scott Morrison.
Backhanded compliment does not even begin to describe this type of propaganda.
And then there's Taiwan and when pressed on it, Mr Albanese got testy and defensive.
Standing near the Wall, he had to clarify our stance on Taiwan after China Daily claimed he told Mr Xi Jinping face-to-face that Australia does not support the island's independence.
It was a meeting that subsequently made many people wonder just how far our federal government is willing to acquiesce.
And more evidence too of the PM's prickliness we are becoming all too familiar with: 'Well, you're trying to quote a Chinese read-out that I haven't seen. What we do is continue to support a one-China policy. We support the status quo,' Mr Albanese told reporters.
This government talks tough on democracy when it suits them, like fashionable support for Ukraine, but what about when we claim to back vulnerable Taiwan in its arm wrestle with China?
Beijing is not fooled for one second, relieved even.
The issue became a diplomatic quicksand and the Chinese government got the headline it wanted.
Also, my ears pricked up when the PM gushed about a dinner in the Great Hall on Tuesday evening where he was joined by leaders including Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Guests ate their meal whilst a cover band rolled out some Aussie classics, such as Midnight Oils' Power and the Passion.
'That obviously took them a long period of time and those gestures matter,' enthused Mr Albanese of the musical choices which included Paul Kelly's anthem To Her Door.
'Respect matters between countries."Mr Albanese added: 'Powderfinger as well. They did the full kit and caboodle and so it was a splendid occasion.'
Splendid?
It was certainly a very clever choice of Midnight Oil song by the CCP with quite the subliminal message.In the 1980s Lucky Country, the Oils ruled the Top 40 with their savage and brilliant lyrics which shamelessly politicised rock music.
As a child, I'd never heard anything like them, let alone seen a performer like bald, wild-eyed Peter Garrett and his sweaty, angular dance moves.'
It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees,' Power and the Passion goes.
'Oh the power and the passion… sometimes you've got to take the hardest line.'
But Mr Albanese took the softest line. All symbolism and no spine.
He referenced Gough Whitlam's legacy to remind us of Labor's historic ties to China.
But Mr Whitlam didn't fly to Beijing to be applauded, wined, dined and applauded again.
In 1973, he opened the door to Australia's first official relationship with a communist regime which was, at the time, a bold move.
Mr Whitlam also gets mention in that Oils song - 'tough 'til he hit the rough' - no doubt to the PM's delight.
Mr Albanese, on the other hand, seemed content on his China trip to be serenaded and flattered.
Or as Mr Garrett sang: 'It's just enough to make you want to cry'.
Louise Roberts is a journalist and editor who has worked as a TV and radio commentator in Australia, the UK and the US. Louise is a winner of the Peter Ruehl Award for Outstanding Columnist in the NRMA Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism and has been shortlisted in other awards for her opinion work