In 1985, Prime Minister Bob Hawke traveled through Australia to Perth to greet a Communist Party official who was visiting the country at the time.
Hu Yaobang was the party chairman and was seen at the time as the successor to the great leader, Deng Xiaoping.
It was a wonderful five-day visit that will redefine the relationship between Australia and China and ensure Australia’s prosperity for the next four decades.
What a different time it was. The eyes of the world were on Hu’s visit, and the Washington Post said: “This is a safe visit, with no chance of anything happening on either side, because the relationship between China and Australia will not be good.”
China had little disagreement with Australia, the paper said: “Trade is booming, and there is no major problem that hinders relations like Taiwan does between China and the United States.”
It is worth remembering that the official policies of the CCP in Taiwan were not different from today.
Deng Xiaoping would have said exactly the same words as Xi Jinping – that China has the right to use force to “unify” Taiwan with the world.
Taiwan was then, as it is now, a stepping stone between Washington and Beijing.
Then as now, Australia’s closest ally and strongest ally was the United States. However, Australia managed to walk two roads: the US and China’s close ties.
China has become Australia’s lifeline
A year after Hu Yaobang went to Australia, Bob Hawke went to Beijing. He met with the Chinese prime minister, Zhao Ziyang, and announced a plan to integrate the Australian iron and steel industries with China.
ABC China reporter Helene Chung said at the time: “Everyone thought it was unbelievable.
It more than worked. It was revolutionary.
Think of the numbers. Between 1977 and 1984, two-way trade between our countries grew from $500 million to $1.2 billion – an increase of 12 percent.
But in one year between 1984-85, Australian exports to China exploded by 70 per cent. In one year, China went from being Australia’s 10th largest market to its fifth largest.
When Hawke went to Beijing in 1984, there was one agreement between Australia and China; two years later there were more than 16.
China has become Australia’s lifeline. As China has grown into an economic powerhouse, its appetite for our economy has protected Australia from adverse global economic headwinds.
We survived the worst of the Asian Financial Crisis of the 1990s and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
The economic reforms here and the rise of China contributed to Australia’s 30-year economic growth.
But that is a mistake. The war drums are beating. We are spending a lot on our security, preparing for conflicts.
The issue of Taiwan is not something we can control or stop unilaterally.
We were saying that we don’t have to choose between our security and friendship relationship with the US and our trade relationship with China.
Now we have decided. We are creating new blogs with the US and other countries to counter China’s influence and self-reliance.
Australia is planning to launch American nuclear bombs on our soil. China warns that this will lead to an arms race. Australia will be the target.
How did we get here?
In the 1980s, relationships, although improving, were still unstable.
Four years after Hu Yaobang went to Australia, his death in 1989 sparked protests in Tiananmen Square.
Fifty thousand students marched to Hu’s memorial site. They were mourning someone who thought about the new future of China.
Hu’s name was investigated by the party, there is no official mention of him. His name was not restored for many years.
Deng Xiaoping, who transformed China’s economy, gave his people guns in the Tiananmen massacre.
Australia, like the rest of the world, was horrified and said so. We took Chinese people who wanted to escape.
But Australia’s relationship with China survived and is now thriving.
The Chinese Communist Party has not stopped being a repressive government. It has become authoritarian.
Yet over the years Australia has walked the line between what it likes and what it likes.
That is difficult now. China is very powerful. As it grew the CCP did not become, as many people expected, like the West – liberal, democratic and liberal – but doubled down on authoritarianism.
The world is now poised between a declining United States and a rising China. Xi Jinping believes that China’s time has come.
Australia is torn between cultures and interests.
America is our most important economic partner but not our most important economic partner.
Two-way trade between the US and Australia is approximately $76 billion. Two-way trade with China is pushing $240 billion.
There is a difference between international policy and economic policy. A very worrisome relationship with China will hurt us economically. But that’s where we are.
The stakes are high
The challenge for the Albanian government is to bring foreign policy and economic policy closer together.
The stakes are high. Most of the world is on the brink of recession; The United States is struggling with inflation and economic growth.
Unlike in 2008, China is now facing its first major crisis since its economic reforms.
Australia is exposed. Treasurer Jim Chalmers must cut the cost of living, slay the inflationary dragon, and hope he doesn’t bring the country down.
The Hawke government is a lesson for another generation. Then, Bob Hawke and his treasurer Paul Keating saw the future. He changed his fortune and focused on Beijing.
The future does not look good today.
Stan Grant is the ABC’s international commentator and Q+A presenter on Thursdays at 8.30pm. He also presents China Tonight on Mondays at 9:35pm on ABC TV, and Tuesdays at 8pm on ABC News Channel.
