Add Category
Updated
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has hit back at former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby, who penned a damning opinion piece overnight claiming that relations with Beijing can only improve with the foreign minister's sacking.
Key points:
- Geoff Raby slammed Julie Bishop saying Australia's foreign policy is missing in action
- PM Malcolm Turnbull said the article is "utterly wrong" and disappointing
- Ms Bishop appeared to question China's leadership abilities last year
In the piece, Mr Raby slams Ms Bishop for not having visited China in more than two years while angering Beijing with "strident public comments on the South China Sea" and an "utterly bizarre" 2017 speech that he maintains questioned Beijing's regional leadership.
"It is a profoundly ignorant and ill-informed analysis of the China-Australia relationship," Ms Bishop told the ABC in a statement.
"Australia's deep diplomatic engagement with China is continuing at the highest levels.
"The fundamental interests underpinning the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Australia and China have not changed."
In the Fairfax piece published late last night, Mr Raby — who told the ABC he had nothing further to add — declares that Australia's foreign policy is "missing in action" and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull "needs to replace the Foreign Minister with someone better equipped for the demands of the job".
"[Julie Bishop] has many esteemed attributes both professionally and personally and has achievements to her credit," Mr Raby writes.
"Australia, however, needs a foreign minister who is steeped in history and geopolitics, who lives and breathes the issues.
"And who has a grasp of the profound challenges Australia faces in the rapidly evolving new world order being shaped, in large measure, by China."
'Utterly wrong': Malcolm Turnbull
Asked by reporters if he had a response to the advice from a former ambassador to China, Mr Turnbull told a press briefing in Melbourne this morning that he stood by Ms Bishop and that the piece was disappointing and "utterly wrong".
"I was disappointed by that article. It's utterly wrong," Mr Turnbull said.
"Julie Bishop is doing an outstanding job. Every time she goes out on the world stage, she makes Australians proud. She's a formidable foreign minister, a great diplomat and a great colleague."
Last year, Beijing defended itself as a good example for the region after comments Ms Bishop made in Singapore, where she appeared to question China's ability to be a regional leader while citing the communist country's lack of democracy.
"While non-democracies such as China can thrive when participating in the present system, an essential pillar of our preferred order is democratic community," Ms Bishop said at the time.
"History also shows democracy and democratic institutions are essential for nations if they are to reach their economic potential."
At the time, Chinese state media outlet Global Times warned that "Australia should not meddle in Chinese affairs" and following the latest piece by Mr Raby there has been mixed responses to the spat on social media.
The Chinese Embassy in Australia has not responded to the ABC's request for comments.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, china, australia
First posted