Australia has just gone through a profound political reckoning. The right-wing conservative alliance has lost power after nine years at the helm of a ship that had lurched further to the right and allowed itself to be blown off the course of sensible diplomacy and engagement with China. The ship had been allowed to head toward the dangerous rocks of lost self-interest, weakened trade and damaged prospects in the Asia-Pacific.
As the political winds blew cold in the sails, the rhetoric and biased worldviews came to the fore to stoke mistrust and damage opportunities for dialogue, understanding and progress in the region. This was raw politics of the worst kind.
Australia is of course a sovereign nation entitled to chart its own way, but it was born of empire, and despite its far-flung geographical location, remains bound in various social, political, familial and cultural ways to the Anglosphere.
This is perfectly natural and understandable. But we all grow up, look around our neighborhood, and eventually chart our own more independent way in the world. There are forward-looking paths that can be trod with greater confidence as Australia seeks to benefit from emerging economic behemoths in the more local vicinity — nations such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and, of course, China.
I have friends whose businesses and personal lives have been badly affected by the combination of tit-for-tat, cause-and-effect trade barrier escalations between Australia and China. No one is winning here, and business (and personal) relationships, sometimes decades in the making, were damaged, sometimes beyond repair.
However, Australians are a real ‘can do’ people, so repair, reevaluation and reorientation are always possible. Even if we are considered more ‘laidback’ than many, with an eye on the easy lifestyle and some would say a more parochial way of thinking, we are not scared to try new things and not too proud to change tack.
This is perhaps a natural consequence of relative physical isolation from the old powers, engendering a boldness and self-reliance that is as refreshing as it is exciting. However, in the 21st century, Australians are also increasingly globally connected, culturally diverse, cosmopolitan in outlook, and more caring about the environment, climate change and the future. This much is clear from the generational change that the general election has created.
There was a remarkable groundswell of desire for change, with the old way of thinking considered stale and no longer fit for purpose. There is a strong, palpable need to heal not just the injustices of the past and give a greater recognition and respect for the indigenous peoples of my Great Southern Land (with the promise of a reconciliatory “Uluru Statement from the Heart”) but to heal the land itself.
Australia is particularly prone to drought, flood and fire, and over the last few years these have all broken records that perhaps stood for centuries. The people, not the politicians, appreciated this new reality and the consequences of unfettered human activity. They voted accordingly in huge numbers for candidates that were either green or in the so-called “teal” blue-green political force. They also voted for a main party that is more committed to proactively doing something about it.
People want to heal their land and the planet and are increasingly impatient for enacting the change that will help facilitate this. I am onboard. People voted to be more reasonable, pragmatic, less dogmatic politically and less confrontational.
Healing needs recognition of the wounds and their causes. Healing in a broader sense also needs to proceed with the cooperation of nation states that can make a collective difference. Indeed, we are now all so interconnected and interdependent that we cannot carry on as before with impunity and without regard to the actions we may take locally that affect others outside our borders. This is as true for our contributions to carbon emissions as it is for trade.
There is hope therefore that healing of mutually beneficial trading relationships with erstwhile friends and neighbors is now possible. It is very much needed and overdue if we are to resurrect some of our former most vibrant trading relations.
The change of government in Australia therefore gives a wonderful opportunity to reset the relationship with China and place it on a more mature and less reactionary footing. A relationship based on mutual respect and recognition that there is no ‘one size fits all’ for how to run a country properly and that each nation should respect the other and each has the right to chart its own path.
This should not lead to confrontation. These paths may run parallel at times and may also cross — sometimes we may even choose to walk the same path together. In any event, these paths may be at a new crossroads, and which direction the travelers choose may affect millions of lives for years to come. The choice must never be politicized, nor instigated by a third country.
At the recent Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in Tokyo, the relationships with China of Quad members Australia, the United States, India and Japan were undoubtedly on the agenda. A more positive mindset for better engagement is possible from all sides. The global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the climate emergency should give every side the motivation, opportunity and pretext to look to reset relationships in a better, more constructive and less adversarial way for the future.
The author is a professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Hong Kong and the director of its Laboratory for Space Research.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.