Australia complains to China about live-fire exercise as Albanese begins Shanghai tourism mission
Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised Australia's concerns about the heavily armed flotilla that circumnavigated Australia earlier this year in a meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Malaysia on Friday, the government confirmed.
Her expression of disapproval at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a day after she warned of China's rapid military build-up, serves as a reminder of the points of difference with Australia's largest trading partner even after years of calmer relations under Labor.
The emergence of a Chinese flotilla sailing around Australia's east coast in February sparked concern in Canberra about the lack of notice of live-firing, despite the voyage being conducted in accordance with international law.
Flanked by a delegation of Australian captains of industry, the prime minister arrived in Shanghai on Saturday, where he will announce a memorandum of understanding between Tourism Australia and Chinese-owned Trip.com.
The site is the world's largest booking platform and owns Skyscanner and MakeMyTrip. The deal is designed to give Australia a leg-up over other nations in the lucrative Chinese holiday market, which is worth $9.2 billion to Australia.
A new tourism video featuring award-winning Chinese actor Yu Shu, under the banner of Australia's 'Come and Say G'day' campaign, will also be released.
Albanese said Australia's relationship with China went beyond beef, barley, red wine and lobster, all of which were blocked from China after the ruling Chinese Communist Party punished the Morrison government for its blunt criticisms of China's actions particularly during the pandemic.
'Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost to Australian businesses,' Albanese said in a statement marking the start of his six-day visit to China.
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
It's clear what was behind Kumanjayi Walker's killing. So why can't we say it?
Indeed, some are calling for a federal truth-telling commission while simultaneously lamenting the non-implementation of those royal commission recommendations. It speaks to the absurdity of the status quo and post-referendum fragmentation in Indigenous affairs to call for the same form of inquiry to achieve something we unequivocally know it can't. What can history tell us? While formal policies of compulsory racial segregation established by protection legislation ended in the latter part of the 20th century, there was little institutional reckoning with the role police had played in administering that regime. Police forces, which for over a century had played a key role in the enforcement of the system of Aboriginal reserves, missions and curfews, were reconstituted in the post-protection era as ostensibly neutral enforcers of the rule of law with no corresponding effort to reform the institutional culture or confront its origins in racial control. Loading The phenomenon of over-policing – where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly youth, are disproportionately surveilled, detained and prosecuted for conduct that may not attract the same police or judicial response when committed by non-Indigenous peers – is not speculative. It is extensively documented across decades of institutional review and legal analysis, including the 2017 Australian Law Reform Commission's Pathways to Justice report. These are not isolated or anecdotal claims. They form part of a consistent body of empirical and legal evidence that demonstrates a structural problem embedded within our institutions. But equally confronting, for those calling for more truth-telling to replace structural change, is that Australians say they know the truth but want to move on. That's a truth that needs to be grappled with. This is possibly why the sky did not fall in with the Yoorrook findings of genocide in Victoria. They were, by and large, not controversial because this was already historically supported, perhaps demonstrating that societies do move on and the temporal, ideological motivations of the Aboriginal history 'culture wars' have disintegrated with the passage of time. It has been more than three decades since the release of the deaths-in-custody royal commission report, Australia's first truth-telling commission. There is much sentimentalising of the report. The inquiry emerged in a markedly different Australia, an era in which Australians trusted public institutions and politicians. Its findings were released when Aboriginal political structures were more unified and institutional forms such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission provided a national platform for Indigenous voices. In the intervening years, the landscape has changed significantly. Aboriginal communities have experienced fragmentation, and the post-ATSIC policy environment has become saturated with a proliferation of individuals and organisations purporting to represent Aboriginal interests, often in unaccountable ways, and which commodify identity and political authority. Loading The royal commission was unequivocal in its central finding: that systemic change would be achieved only by reducing Aboriginal contact with the criminal justice system altogether. This imperative remains as urgent now as it was then. Yet, despite its clarity, much of the contemporary criminal justice response has been directed towards superficial modifications at the sentencing stage, design interventions and cultural overlays that attempt to 'Indigenise' the system without altering its foundational logic. These are, to borrow a phrase, cosmetic adjustments, lipstick on a pig that leaves the structural drivers of over-incarceration intact. The royal commission's recommendations on non-criminal justice system solutions are a pathway forward. The pursuit of these should not form part of the closing-the-gap monolith that hoovers up all things Indigenous these days – the wicked problem they've created to solve the wicked problem. A core insight of the royal commission, too often cited but insufficiently read, is that communities need autonomy and agency, and the safety of Aboriginal people depends on them avoiding the system altogether, not their adaptation within it. We've done the reverse over 30 years and wonder why the gap in disadvantage grows wider. The royal commission further called for a withdrawal of bureaucratic control and the reallocation of authority to Aboriginal communities. Ironically, the most recent national attempt to institutionalise this principle, the proposed Voice to parliament, was framed by its opponents as an exercise in bureaucratisation, despite its primary aim being to devolve authority to communities and reduce administrative gatekeeping. Loading In the aftermath of the failed referendum, bureaucratic entrenchment has, if anything, intensified. Critics of over-bureaucratisation have grown conspicuously silent, while initiatives such as justice reinvestment attract significant public expenditure without demonstrable systemic returns. The Justice Policy Partnership, established under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, is dominated by bureaucratic actors. Several Aboriginal members have made serious accusations about its ineffectiveness. Yet, as is often the case in Indigenous policy, their concerns about the bureaucrats are ignored by the bureaucrats, and the dysfunction continues with no course correction. Today, the right of self-determination, as articulated by the royal commission, is far from the concept defined then. It has been reduced to 'partnership with government', whatever that means, and in practice it means incorporation via corporations statutes. In this way, self-determination has become synonymous with corporate compliance. What relevance these observations to the NT Kumanjayi Walker coronial inquest? The second version of the closing-the-gap framework adopted in 2020 pushed the Commonwealth's constitutional obligations and leadership responsibilities from 1967 back to the states and territories, which were notoriously bad at Indigenous policy. Now Aboriginal organisations are required, by agreement, to stand side-by-side with state and territory governments which claim to be in partnership with them while they implement draconian and ruthless criminal justice policies that render nugatory the various KPIs of justice, health and wellbeing that the closing-the-gap framework purports to achieve. The asymmetry and absurdity of the arrangements were evident when the Walker coronial inquest recommended, among many things, diversionary justice programs for Indigenous youth four days after the NT announced restricting youth offenders from accessing diversionary justice programs. Two ships passing in the night. The federal government has declined the invitation of the Indigenous sector to take more leadership. The most compelling solution here is for the Commonwealth to assume responsibility for Indigenous criminal justice and bring some leadership, accountability and coherency to the sector, if we are serious about the national closing-the-gap agreement and its justice outcomes. Something more serious is needed than the annual performative lamenting the gap.
The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Dalai Lama succession 'thorn' in China, India relations
The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says, as India's foreign minister prepares to visit China for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020. Ahead of celebrations in July for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession. Tibetans believe the soul of any senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated after his death, but China says the Dalai Lama's succession will also have to be approved by its leaders. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile. Yu Jing, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said on X that some people from strategic and academic communities in India had made "improper remarks" on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Yu did not name anyone but in recent days, Indian strategic affairs analysts and a government minister backed the Dalai Lama's remarks on his succession. "As professionals in foreign affairs, they should be fully cognisant of the sensitivity of issues related to Xizang," Yu said, using the Chinese name for Tibet. "The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China," she said. "(The) Xizang-related issue is a thorn in China-India relations and has become a burden for India. Playing the 'Xizang card' will definitely end up shooting oneself in the foot." Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the birthday festivities a week ago, has said that as a practising Buddhist, he believes only the spiritual guru and his office have the authority to decide on his reincarnation. India's foreign ministry said on July 4, two days before the Dalai Lama's birthday, that New Delhi does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend a regional security meeting under the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Tianjin in northern China on Tuesday and hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines. This will be one of the highest-level visits between India and China since their relations nosedived after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. India's defence minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in China on the sidelines of a defence ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in June. The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says, as India's foreign minister prepares to visit China for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020. Ahead of celebrations in July for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession. Tibetans believe the soul of any senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated after his death, but China says the Dalai Lama's succession will also have to be approved by its leaders. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile. Yu Jing, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said on X that some people from strategic and academic communities in India had made "improper remarks" on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Yu did not name anyone but in recent days, Indian strategic affairs analysts and a government minister backed the Dalai Lama's remarks on his succession. "As professionals in foreign affairs, they should be fully cognisant of the sensitivity of issues related to Xizang," Yu said, using the Chinese name for Tibet. "The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China," she said. "(The) Xizang-related issue is a thorn in China-India relations and has become a burden for India. Playing the 'Xizang card' will definitely end up shooting oneself in the foot." Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the birthday festivities a week ago, has said that as a practising Buddhist, he believes only the spiritual guru and his office have the authority to decide on his reincarnation. India's foreign ministry said on July 4, two days before the Dalai Lama's birthday, that New Delhi does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend a regional security meeting under the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Tianjin in northern China on Tuesday and hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines. This will be one of the highest-level visits between India and China since their relations nosedived after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. India's defence minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in China on the sidelines of a defence ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in June. The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says, as India's foreign minister prepares to visit China for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020. Ahead of celebrations in July for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession. Tibetans believe the soul of any senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated after his death, but China says the Dalai Lama's succession will also have to be approved by its leaders. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile. Yu Jing, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said on X that some people from strategic and academic communities in India had made "improper remarks" on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Yu did not name anyone but in recent days, Indian strategic affairs analysts and a government minister backed the Dalai Lama's remarks on his succession. "As professionals in foreign affairs, they should be fully cognisant of the sensitivity of issues related to Xizang," Yu said, using the Chinese name for Tibet. "The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China," she said. "(The) Xizang-related issue is a thorn in China-India relations and has become a burden for India. Playing the 'Xizang card' will definitely end up shooting oneself in the foot." Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the birthday festivities a week ago, has said that as a practising Buddhist, he believes only the spiritual guru and his office have the authority to decide on his reincarnation. India's foreign ministry said on July 4, two days before the Dalai Lama's birthday, that New Delhi does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend a regional security meeting under the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Tianjin in northern China on Tuesday and hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines. This will be one of the highest-level visits between India and China since their relations nosedived after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. India's defence minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in China on the sidelines of a defence ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in June. The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says, as India's foreign minister prepares to visit China for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020. Ahead of celebrations in July for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession. Tibetans believe the soul of any senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated after his death, but China says the Dalai Lama's succession will also have to be approved by its leaders. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile. Yu Jing, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said on X that some people from strategic and academic communities in India had made "improper remarks" on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Yu did not name anyone but in recent days, Indian strategic affairs analysts and a government minister backed the Dalai Lama's remarks on his succession. "As professionals in foreign affairs, they should be fully cognisant of the sensitivity of issues related to Xizang," Yu said, using the Chinese name for Tibet. "The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China," she said. "(The) Xizang-related issue is a thorn in China-India relations and has become a burden for India. Playing the 'Xizang card' will definitely end up shooting oneself in the foot." Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the birthday festivities a week ago, has said that as a practising Buddhist, he believes only the spiritual guru and his office have the authority to decide on his reincarnation. India's foreign ministry said on July 4, two days before the Dalai Lama's birthday, that New Delhi does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend a regional security meeting under the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Tianjin in northern China on Tuesday and hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines. This will be one of the highest-level visits between India and China since their relations nosedived after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. India's defence minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in China on the sidelines of a defence ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in June.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
PM pushes Australian ore in China as steelmakers stare down decarbonisation
In a display of classic supply and demand salesmanship, Anthony Albanese will flaunt Australian iron ore at a roundtable with China's biggest steelmakers on Monday. The country's behemoth construction industry has slowed in recent years, fuelling fears a downturn in steel production could smash demand for Australian iron ore and threaten jobs as well as the national bottom-line. Both countries have also committed to cleaning up big polluting industries in line with their broader climate goals. With Australia the world's largest iron ore producer and China Australia's top customer, the Prime Minister will make the case for closer co-operation. 'I'm pleased to be here for an important discussion between Australian iron ore miners and Chinese steelmakers,' Mr Albanese will tell the roundtable, according to speech extracts seen by NewsWire. 'Australia and China's iron ore and steel sector partnership has contributed to both countries' economic development for decades. 'Australian miners are reliable and stable suppliers of iron ore, responsible for almost 60 per cent of China's iron ore imports. 'That iron ore goes into Chinese steel production which accounts for over 50 per cent of global supply.' BHP, Hancock, Rio Tinto and Fortescue will all be seated at the roundtable, with Twiggy Forrest among the executives showing up. Nearly 145,000 Australians work in the metal ore mining industry, according to the latest official figures. In 2024, iron ore exports alone were worth north of $150bn. But it is a dirty business in a world scrambling for greener options. 'Steelmaking value chains are also responsible for 7 to 9 per cent of global emissions,' Mr Albanese will say. 'Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require the decarbonising of steel value chains, presenting an opportunity for Australia and China to progress our long-term economic interests.' Mr Albanese will raise the 'challenges' of steel decarbonisation, but aim to reassure both the Australian mining chiefs and the Chinese steel bosses that Australia is willing to front up the cash investments and tweak policies. 'What we need are enabling policy environments, extensive investments in research to develop new technologies, and collaboration across academia, industry and government,' he will say. 'Australia and China each have major stakes in how the decarbonisation efforts develop. 'As both countries co-operate to advance decarbonisation, we also need to work together to address global excess steel capacity. 'It is in both countries' interests to ensure a sustainable and market-driven global steel sector.' Later on Monday, Mr Albanese will have a lunch with Australian and Chinese business leaders. Both roundtables are key parts of his six-day diplomatic and big business blitz in China. Against a backdrop of an increasingly militaristic regional rivalry with Beijing, Mr Albanese has been keen to reframe the bilateral relationship in friendlier terms, such as tariff-free trade.
