Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Foreign Minister. It has been reported that during the Foreign Minister's talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang he said that the minister's recent statements had 'jeopardised bilateral mutual trust and affected the sound growth of bilateral relations'. Can the minister update the House on Australia's relationship with China?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take it from the question that the opposition does not support the views of the United States, Japan, the Philippines, the European Union, Canada and others, who have all raised their concerns, along with Australia, about the announcement without warning or consultation—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I raise a point of order. It is a serious question which was given directly. It is not appropriate for the minister to reframe it so she could be directly relevant to a different question.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. Of course it is a serious question and I call the minister.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So I take it from the question that the opposition have walked away from their position that we would have concerns about any unilateral action or any action taken without warning or consultation in relation to the East China Sea. That was the position of the Labor Party when they were in government. What the coalition have done is restate our concerns over action taken by China that has in fact regrettably led to consequential steps taken by other countries. South Korea has now announced an air defence identification zone in retaliation. This is a concern and all parliamentarians should join with the government in ensuring that we make our concerns known. We are not afraid to stand up for our values and our interests. We are not afraid to state Australian foreign policy even if it does not agree with the outlook of some of our friends and partners. We are proud of the position we have taken. We do not resile from it.

Perhaps I could remind the Deputy Leader of the Opposition what one would not do in relation to the China relationship, as set out in David Marr's 'Power Trip' article in the Quarterly Essay of June 2010. I remind the deputy leader that the man she chose to be Prime Minister over Prime Minister Gillard referred to the Chinese in less than flattering terms in an article that sets out precisely what former Prime Minister Rudd said about the Chinese interlocutors at the Copenhagen climate change conference.

I remind the shadow minister that the relationship that we inherited had a number of deep concerns. I had a four-hour meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and at the end of that meeting we restated our commitment to the strategic partnership. I am looking forward to the visit of Prime Minister Abbott to Beijing next year. The strategic partnership is strong and firm, but that does not mean that we agree with every point of difference raised by the Chinese nor with any other of our friends and partners. I table this document to remind the shadow minister of the way the Labor Party dealt with China. The 2009 white paper caused enormous challenges— (Time expired)