May 25, 2022
image source,EPA
Huang Yingxian is Australia’s first foreign minister of Chinese descent.
Labor won Australia’s general election over the weekend and a new government was sworn in this week, including foreign minister Penny Wong, who is of Chinese descent.
As early as during the campaign, Huang Yingxian had expressed a desire to mend Australia’s bilateral relationship with China, and had called on the previous government not to “play domestic politics” with China issues.
Huang Yingxian is known to the outside world for her appointment as foreign minister this time, but she is actually a senior figure in Australian politics with many years of political experience.
She set several records in Australian politics: the first foreign-born foreign minister, the first female senator with a Chinese background, and the first openly lesbian senator.
Australia and America
In the campaign process before the Australian general election vote, Huang Yingxian advocated for Australia to play a greater role in the Pacific region.
She commented on Australia’s last Morrison government’s failure to prevent China from striking a security deal with the Solomon Islands, calling it “the biggest failure of Australia’s foreign policy in the Pacific since the end of World War II”.
On the first day of being sworn in as foreign minister, Huang Yingxian delivered a video address to Australia’s neighbors, acknowledging the impact of climate change on the Pacific region, and saying that Australia will strengthen its contribution in this field, “We will face the upcoming international challenge”.
“Together, we will achieve our shared aspirations. We want to help build a stronger Pacific family. That’s why we will do more and we will do better.”
“We’re going to listen to everyone because we care about the Pacific,” she said.
At the beginning of her tenure, she and Prime Minister Albanese traveled to Tokyo, Japan to attend the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). She tweeted that the Quad Security Dialogue was an important part of Australia’s foreign policy.
“Our four countries are committed to strengthening our partnership and responding to the region’s most pressing issues, including stepping up action on climate change, regional security and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
After a meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken, she said “the Australia-US alliance is at the centre of our security and prosperity. We discussed cooperation issues to address regional geo-competition…”
Australia and China
After the Australian Labor Party won the election, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory message to the new Prime Minister Albanese.
In his congratulatory message, Li Keqiang expressed that the healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations is in line with the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the two peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
“In the 1970s, the Australian Labor Party made the right decision to establish diplomatic relations with China and made important contributions to the development of bilateral relations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. China is willing to work with Australia to review the past, face the future, and uphold mutual respect. , the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results, and promote the healthy and stable development of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Such friendly interaction between China and Australia is rare in the period of tense relations in the past few years, so the outside world has placed hopes on the recovery of the relationship between the two countries.
As Australia’s highest-ranking diplomat, how would Huang Yingxian handle relations with China differently?
In May 2021, Huang Yingxian in ain public speechWhat she discusses is not only the consistent continuation of the Australian Labor Party’s policy towards China, but also reflects her own grasp of the relationship between Australia and China.
She concluded that there was “too much fanaticism, fear and lack of context” about discussions involving China within Australia, and publicly criticized the governing Morrison government for being “only interested in things that bring him political value”. .
Biography of Huang Yingxian
Huang Yingxian was born in Malaysia in 1968 and is 53 years old. Her father is a Malaysian Hakka and her mother is Australian. At the age of 8, she moved to Australia with her mother.
Her official website introduces herself as follows:
- Graduated in Law and Arts from the University of Adelaide
- Before entering politics, he worked for a trade union, as a ministerial adviser to the NSW Labor government, and as a solicitor
- Elected to the Senate in 2001
- In 2004, he was elected as a member of the opposition “shadow cabinet”
- After Labour was elected in 2007, he was appointed Minister of Climate Change and Water Resources
- After the 2010 election, was appointed Minister of Finance
- In 2013, was appointed leader of the ruling party in the Senate
- She was named Senate Opposition Leader after Labour fell
- is the first woman to hold both positions
- Lives in Adelaide with partner and their two daughters
image source,Archyde.com
Australia’s newly sworn-in Prime Minister Albanese (right) and Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian traveled to Japan to participate in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between the United States, Japan, India and Australia when they took office.
Foreign policy should not be a means to execute domestic politics in a different way, she said, and “words are important in diplomacy.”
In her speech, Huang Yingxian believed that China’s implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong undermined “one country, two systems”. China used its economic strength to coerce many countries, including Australia, and China’s militarization of disputed areas in the South China Sea flouted international law. She also talked about China’s wolf warrior. foreign policy, etc.
She argues that these cannot be simply attributed to China as a great power flexing its muscles, because that would “ignore the specific impact of Chinese nationalism and China’s assessment of its national interests.”
And Australia “cannot ignore these impacts if it is to succeed in taking care of its national interests.”
In her view, China is clearly working hard at the United Nations and other parties, trying to weaken the recognition of the nature of international human rights and freedom, and trying to make other countries believe that economic development is more important than civil and political power, and that individual rights should take precedence over national interests. That’s precisely what liberal democracies should do, she said, “to ensure that principles such as the rules of international law, including universal human rights, are upheld.”
When Huang Yingxian made this speech two years ago, the US leaders still followed the “fuzzy principle” on the Taiwan issue, that is, the US government did not indicate how to respond to Beijing’s military attack on Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait war crisis.
But as US President Joe Biden has publicly stated twice in recent months that he will use force to help Taiwan respond to “Chinese armed incursions”, it must be more difficult for Australia to maintain a balance in the contest between the United States and China.
How Huang Yingxian, as Australia’s new foreign minister, will deal with such a thorny problem will also deserve more attention.
In her speech two years ago, she said: The first job of the national leader is to ensure the safety of the people. “Leaders certainly cannot keep us safe by vigorously advocating war with China.”
As foreign minister, she has begun work on “building the Pacific family”.
On May 26, when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi set off for an official visit to eight Pacific countries including Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor, Huang Yingxian will also visit Fiji.
Public opinion is widely seen as a signal of her determination to strengthen Australia’s relationship with Pacific nations.
“China has made its intentions clear, as has the intentions of the new Australian government,” she said in a statement ahead of her visit to Fiji.