Foreign Minister Wang Yi ended his two-day official visit to Australia on March 21, and British Foreign Minister David Cameron was also in Australia at the same time.
The purpose of the visit to Australia by the Chinese and British foreign ministers is very different. China hopes that China-Australia relations will break the ice and set sail again, and achieve a "second major transformation" in bilateral relations. It can be said that China-Australia relations are in the "healing stage of recovering from a serious illness", and they need to be gradually restored through exchanges and cooperation, so as to make up for the long-standing shortcomings of the two highly complementary bilateral relations.
Foreign Minister Wang said that driven by the improvement of relations between the two countries, the latest development is that "the wine case has been properly handled, and the Chinese side will release the final ruling at the end of the month", which means that China is actively considering lifting punitive tariffs on Australian wine imports.
In fact, wine is only a symbolic product in the economic and trade relationship between China and Australia. Even if China cancels all tariffs this time, in the past few years, in the low-end wine market, Australian wine has been squeezed almost by Chilean wine, and it will take time to regain the market, but the quality of high-end Australian wine is better, this is an objective reality. In addition, there is competition from French wine in the Chinese market, and it is also a high probability event that China and France will achieve a high degree of visit this year. The performance of Australian wine in the Chinese market also depends on its own creation.
In China's diplomatic philosophy, if the two countries are politically stable, economic and trade relations must be stable.
In the view of the Australian side, the two issues of politics and economy and trade can be handled separately.
It is precisely this philosophy that drives Australia to believe that even if China and Australia lack political mutual trust, economic and trade can still proceed smoothly. This explains that Australian politicians, on the one hand, heard from the Chinese foreign minister that they need to respect each other's core interests and major concerns and promote the sustained, stable and healthy development of bilateral relations, and on the other hand, they can put aside China's security concerns and engage in submarine construction with the United Kingdom, spending more than 4.6 billion Australian dollars (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) to accelerate the manufacture of new "Australian, British and American alliance-class nuclear submarines".
As soon as Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong finished his talks with Wang Yi, he followed the British Foreign Minister and Defense Minister to visit the Adelaide shipyard in South Australia and announced that the new "Australian-British-American Alliance-class nuclear submarine" would be jointly built by the Australian Submarine Corporation and British Aerospace Systems in Adelaide.
According to the "U.S.-U.K.A.-Australia Trilateral Security Partnership" (AUKUS) defense and security treaty, the two sides signed an agreement that Australia will purchase up to five Virginia-class nuclear submarines from the United States in the early 2030s, and then jointly build and operate the new "Australia-UK-US Alliance-class nuclear submarines" with the United Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi saw Australia's vulnerability very accurately, and made it clear during the meeting that he hoped that the other side would "insist on independence and self-determination", although Huang Yingxian responded that he would "manage differences wisely", but on the one hand, he is deeply tied to the United States and the United Kingdom, making it easier for the two militaries to act together in each other's countries, and on the other hand, he hopes to be deeply involved in China's consumer and industrial goods markets.
The United States, Britain and Australia have taken advantage of AUKUS's long-term layout to try to balance China's military power in the Indo-Pacific region, especially in the South China Sea. Australia's deep involvement will allow the US nuclear submarines to have a repair and maintenance base closer to the front line with China in the future, rather than having to return to Guam or even Hawaii as they do today. Since nuclear submarines can lurk at points extremely far away from the base for a long time, the threat and pressure to China can be imagined.
The nuclear submarine cooperation between Australia and the UK will make Australia's long-term support for the United States more concrete. Although this coalition was reached as early as the last right-wing government in Australia, the situation of siding with the United States has not changed at all with the left-wing Labor Party in power.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the agreement signed by the UK and Australia required the two countries to consult when the country was threatened, and that "the need to act together has never been more urgent and we need to be more prepared than ever." Our position needs to change, and the war in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific are inextricably linked. ”
Australian Defence Minister Rimars said the agreement adds a strategic dimension to one of Australia's longest-standing partnerships, with the UK's presence in the Indo-Pacific much larger than ever, and the UK set to send an aircraft carrier strike group to the region next year. Britain will participate in the rotation of its submarine force in Australia, and the agreement will strengthen the ability of the two militaries to work together.
More importantly, as Australia's investment in the AUKUS alliance accumulates more and more, neither the right-wing nor the left-wing government will be able to change the situation in the future, and Australia will inevitably become a key link in the US military deployment to China.
Although China and Australia ostensibly mentioned that the two sides would "repack and set off again", Australia's comparison of the proximity between the United States, Britain and China is clear at a glance.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that since China-Australia relations are on the right track, "we must not hesitate, deviate, or turn back." Australia needs to make sure which track they are on the right track, otherwise it will be a matter of minutes to hesitate, hesitate, reverse or turn back.
On the other hand, the United States and Britain, which are both Anglo-Saxons with Australia, have seen that the Albanese government has shown signs of melting ice with China, and this sense of crisis has prompted the alliance to accelerate the implementation of substantive results.
Australia's vast markets for lobsters, beef, and wine, as well as the American and British submarines approaching China, are all wanted, and this business is shrewd, but not wise.