Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Australia
Newsline: Australia’s top diplomat backs Palestinian UN membership
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday the country’s support for a Palestinian bid to become a full United Nations member was part of building momentum to secure peace in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Australia voted on Friday with the overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly in backing the resolution that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state. It recommended the Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably”. The United States had vetoed a recommendation that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership” in a Security Council vote last month. The question of Palestinian membership is one of the few diplomatic issues where close allies Washington and Canberra differ. “Much of our region and many of our partners also voted yes,” Wong told a press conference in Adelaide. “We all know one vote on its own won’t end this conflict – it has spanned our entire lifetimes – but we all have to do what we can to build momentum towards peace.” (https://neuters.de/world/australia-says-palestinian-un-membership-bid-builds-peace-momentum-2024-05-11/) Friday’s General Assembly vote – 143 in favour, nine including the U.S. and Israel against, and 25 abstaining – was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid. The Palestinians are a non-member observer state.
Newsline: China’s diplomats eye launching maritime talks with Australia
China is considering launching talks on maritime affairs with Australia, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, as increased tension among several nations bordering the South China Sea threatens regional security. Maritime issues have been a hot-button topic between China and Australia amid growing confrontations in the vital economic waterway that China claims almost in its entirety, despite overlapping claims by many Southeast Asian nations. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on the final day of a visit to Australia, during which he has met his counterpart and other leaders to discuss trade issues and differences over regional security. “Both sides agreed to restore and establish dialogue in various fields,” said Lin Jian, the spokesperson, in response to a query on the visit, adding that both are also considering launching talks on maritime issues. (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/china-considers-launching-maritime-talks-with-australia-2024-03-21/) Other areas in which both will look to promote co-operation include diplomacy, trade, technology, education and law enforcement, he added. Australia is very concerned about unsafe and destabilising behaviour in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said, amid clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in disputed waters.
Newsline: China’s top diplomat to talk wine tariffs in Australia
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday the removal of Chinese tariffs on Australian wine would be on the agenda when he meets China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi next week in Canberra. Wang, China’s top diplomat, is set to visit Australia and New Zealand from March 17 to 21. The trip comes as China moves ahead with a review of tariffs first imposed on Australian wine during a diplomatic spat in 2020. “We will host the Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Canberra in the coming week, and I look forward to having further discussion with the foreign minister,” Albanese said in comments televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corp from Adelaide, capital of South Australia, a major wine producing state. Albanese said he expected a decision from China in coming weeks that would open back up the wine market, describing it as “win-win” for both countries. “Dialogue leads to understanding and it leads to benefit for both of our nations. Australia will benefit from the economic activity that removal of these impediments will bring,” he said. (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/australia-pm-talk-wine-tariffs-with-china-foreign-minister-canberra-2024-03-16/) China said this month its review of tariffs on Australian wine was progressing well, but stopped short of confirming an Australian government claim the dispute would be resolved by the end of March.
Newsline: Australia’s top diplomat announces mission to Beijing for dialogue
An Australian industry, government, academic and media delegation will travel to Beijing for dialogue with Chinese counterparts on Thursday, another step in stabilising ties, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday. “This is first time the Dialogue has been held since early 2020 and it represents another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilising our relationship with China,” Wong’s statement said. Trade, investment, regional and international security will be discussed, the statement said. (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/australian-delegation-heading-beijing-dialogue-government-says-2023-09-02/) The high-level meetings, which do not include government ministers, had been held annually since 2014 as a platform to discuss issues of concern, but stopped after 2020. Australia’s former Labor trade minister Craig Emerson will head the Australian delegation, which will include former Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop, to show bipartisan political support, a statement from Wong’s office said. China’s former foreign affairs minister, Li Zhaoxing, will lead the Chinese delegation. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Jan Adams, who attended the last dialogue in Beijing as Australia’s ambassador to China, will also be in the delegation. Diplomatic exchanges between the two major trading partners froze in 2020 as China placed curbs on a dozen Australian exports in response to Australia’s call for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Newsline: U.S. ambassador to Australia seen redefining diplomacy
Ms. Kennedy’s recent swim in the Pacific waters where J.F.K. survived a wartime ordeal shows how her family legacy informs her work. On a drizzly August morning, Caroline Kennedy waded into the turquoise waters between two deserted islands in the South Pacific, trying not to scratch her feet on sprouts of coral. “Look how beautiful this is,” she said. “Your father did this swim,” said her son, Jack Schlossberg. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/world/australia/caroline-kennedy-solomon-islands.html) Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Schlossberg followed through on a promise from J.F.K. to visit the Solomon Islands again after his rescue. Together they stood in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, facing a mile-long jaunt to an islet called Olasana — a place John F. Kennedy, Caroline’s father, landed almost exactly 80 years earlier as a junior Navy officer. He crossed the same waters to save himself and 10 members of his crew after a Japanese destroyer split their torpedo boat, PT-109, in the predawn darkness of Aug. 2, 1943. Ms. Kennedy knew her swim offered just a glimpse of that ordeal. She was there on a short official visit as the U.S. ambassador to Australia. J.F.K. had survived for nearly a week, swimming many miles between three islands with the enemy all around, dragging an injured comrade to land and, eventually, being rescued thanks to a message he carved on a coconut and the bravery of Solomon Islanders and Australians who helped them reach an allied base. The swim was her idea, and it fit a more recent pattern. She didn’t want to simply speak from behind a podium. She wanted to feel and touch the place, to commune with the struggles made distant by time. Half a world away from the United States — where another Kennedy, her cousin Robert, is running for president, tying that famous name to a long-shot campaign fueled by conspiracies about Covid-19 — Ms. Kennedy has been trying to activate her family’s legacy for diplomacy.
Newsline: Squatting Russian diplomat leaves disputed land after Australian court ruling
A Russian diplomat squatting on land set aside for a future Russian embassy in Australia has left after a court ruled that Moscow had no claim to the site near the national parliament in Canberra. The High Court on Monday rejected Moscow’s appeal to hold onto the site and shortly afterwards the squatter left the site, SBS News reported. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government welcomed the High Court’s decision, adding: “We expect the Russian Federation to act in accordance with the court’s ruling.” (https://neuters.de/world/squatting-russian-diplomat-leaves-contested-site-after-australian-court-ruling-2023-06-26/) Australia on June 15 canceled Russia’s lease to build a new embassy citing national security, drawing criticism from the Kremlin, which said the move by Canberra reflected its anti-Russian sentiment. A Russian diplomat subsequently moved into a temporary building on the site and police were unable to arrest him because he had diplomatic immunity, local media reported.
Newsline: China’s embassy in Australia seen at “prime location to eavesdrop”
A national security expert has weighed in on the cancellation of Russia’s lease land adjacent to Parliament House, warning that the same national security concerns apply to the existing Chinese embassy. Speaking about the issue on Sky News Australia, Dr Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said the government was right to “tear up the lease on national security grounds”. “The simple fact is that had the Russians built that embassy there, they would have been in a prime location be able to eavesdrop on communications within Parliament House and to listen in on private conversations,” the ASPI Senior Analyst said. “And by the way, that site for the proposed Russian embassy is right next door to the Chinese Embassy. So the Chinese Embassy is very well located to eavesdrop on communications and conversations happening in Parliament”. (https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/prime-location-to-eavesdrop-national-security-says-the-government-was-right-to-cancel-russias-lease-but-there-should-be-similar-concerns-about-the-location-of-chinas-embassy/news-story/) The Albanese government rushed legislation through parliament last week to cancel Russia’s 99-year-lease to the land, citing national security concerns. However the Russian Federation has launched legal action in the High Court challenging the law on constitutional grounds.
Newsline: Australia sees no threat from squatting Russian diplomat
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday the contested site of a proposed Russian embassy was secure, after it emerged a Russian diplomat was squatting on the land following an Australian decision to cancel the lease. This month, Australia passed a law to prevent Russia from moving its embassy from a Canberra suburb to a prime site close to parliament and the Chinese embassy, citing national security concerns. The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday a Russian diplomat was squatting on the land under the watch of police, who were unable to arrest him as he has diplomatic immunity. “Australia will stand up for our values and we will stand up for our national security, and a bloke standing in the cold on a bit of grass in Canberra is not a threat to our national security,” Albanese told a press conference on Friday. “The site is secure and we are comfortable with our position.” (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/australia-pm-says-no-threat-russian-diplomat-squatting-site-proposed-embassy-2023-06-23/) The Russian embassy in Canberra declined to comment but Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the mission as saying that it had taken the matter to Australia’s High Court.
Newsline: Russia criticizes Australia for canceling embassy land lease
Russia accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for canceling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy, which the Australian government judged to be a security risk because it was too close to Parliament House. Parliament passed emergency legislation blocking the lease Thursday after Russia won a Federal Court appeal last month against local Canberra authorities’ decision to do the same. The Russian Embassy responded on Friday by posting on social media a Russian news agency TASS report of Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s condemnation of Australia’s actions. “Australia, having canceled the lease agreement for the site for the construction of the new Russian Embassy building, diligently continues to move forward in the main stream of the authors of the Russophobic hysteria and tries to distinguish itself on this path,” Peskov is quoted as saying. The Russian Embassy is quoted as describing the lease termination as “another step by (Prime Minister) Anthony Albanese towards a deliberate and systematic destruction of relations with Moscow.” (https://news.yahoo.com/russia-accuses-australia-russophobic-hysteria-070326902.html) The law ending the lease took effect late Thursday when it was rubber-stamped by Governor-General David Hurley, representing Australia’s head of state, King Charles III. Albanese explained the urgency as a need to prevent the site becoming a “formal diplomatic presence.” Lawmakers cited threats of espionage and political interference if Russia’s second embassy was built in the Yarralumla diplomatic precinct so close to Parliament House. Russia currently occupies the former USSR embassy in the suburb of Griffith, farther from Parliament House than the new site.
Newsline: Australia to cancel lease for new Russian embassy
Australia said on Thursday it would introduce legislation to parliament to cancel Russia’s lease to build a new embassy in the national capital of Canberra, citing national security. The move follows the conclusion of a long-running litigation regarding the leased site after the federal court ruled last month that an eviction order made by the National Capital Authority – a government body tasked with the planning of the national capital – was invalid. “The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to parliament house,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. “To be clear, today’s decision is one taken in the national security interests of Australia.” (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/australia-cancels-lease-new-russian-embassy-citing-national-security-2023-06-15/) Albanese said his government acted quickly to ensure the leased site did not become an official diplomatic presence. The termination of the lease would have no impact on Russia’s existing embassy in Canberra.
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