Learning to Live with China
Author: Stephen FitzGerald
Whatever interpretation one chooses to put on China’s international posture, whether you think it will be more friend and partner or more hostile and overbearing, the question for us is the same: how well is the government managing our interests? The issues we’ve had on China over the past year point to major problems – on our side. The policy narrative is missing, there appears to be no long-term strategy, the quality of dialogue is demonstrably deficient, and there are failings in the strategic management of relations.
In the more than a year since the Prime Minister first set out his thinking on long-term regional architecture, in which China clearly would be central, there has been no extended explanation of long-term China policy. This is the more surprising given the issues that have arisen over that time. And each has left questions over policy and relationship-management.