Australia can be a ‘reasonable’ moderator to ease US-China tensions: ex-foreign minister Julie Bishop

As Australia-China ties stabilise under PM Albanese, Canberra is capable of being a ‘logical’ voice if tensions came to a head over Taiwan, Bishop said

Despite Australia’s tricky balancing act, Canberra should continue to deploy soft diplomacy ‘because military conflict is very costly’, she added

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Australia’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop is touting her country as “reasonable” nation to serve as moderator to the tensions between the US and China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:56pm, 26 Jul 2023

Former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has said the country, respected as a “reasonable” nation on the world stage, can serve as moderator to the tensions between the United States and China.

Speaking at the press club in Canberra on Tuesday, Bishop said the Anthony Albanese government had “done a good job” in stabilising tensions with mainland China since coming into office in May 2022, and was capable of being a moderating voice if tensions were to spill “into anything even close to military conflict over Taiwan”.

“I believe that they will be joined by virtually every other nation in the region. I can’t think of anyone who thinks that conflict over Taiwan is a good idea,” Bishop said.

“People want to know what we think, because we’re reasonable, and we’re logical. And we are usually rather objective about the positions that we put forward, always highly conscious of the fact that we must act in Australia’s national interest.”

Bishop served as foreign minister in Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull’s centre-right coalition government between 2013 and 2018, when the conflict between Australia and China began to smoulder, especially after Canberra banned Chinese telecoms firm Huawei from taking part in Australia’s 5G roll-out in 2018.