Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong wants Australia to respond calmly and strategically in the face of deliberate provocation by China.
Key points:
- Labor's senior figures are backing the Prime Minister's response to yesterday's inflammatory social media post
- Penny Wong wants Australia to work with allies to enforce diplomatic standards
- Richard Marles called on the Government to articulate guiding principles for the China relationship
Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday demanded an apology from China after a government official posted a fake image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the neck of an Afghan child.
Mr Morrison described it as "repugnant" and called for it to be deleted, but China's foreign affairs ministry has not backed down.
Senator Wong said the community was "united" in condemnation of the post, but added that a careful response was required.
"What we need to do, and what we should do, is to respond calmly and strategically, and not be emotional in what is obviously a deliberate — in relation to what was a deliberate — provocation," she said.
"It's very important that we respond in a very calm and measured way and make very clear what we believe is acceptable."
She said Australia needed to work with international partners to enforce the "standards of behaviour we want for the region and the world", and she suggested the USA's incoming Joe Biden administration would provide an opportunity to improve relations.
Labor backs 'Team Australia'
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese supported the Prime Minister's comments yesterday.
As the diplomatic stand-off continues, other senior Labor figures have laid out how they believe Australia needs to respond.
Labor's defence spokesman Richard Marles said he wouldn't have expected such a reaction from China, and said Australia needed to reset the relationship between Canberra and Beijing.
"It is important that we make our voice heard clearly, in a dignified way, but I think that's what has happened in the last 24 hours," he told Radio National.
He said he had been critical of the Government's recent handling of the relationship, but said he welcomed recent steps to "reduce the temperature".
"It is important that we attempt, when it comes to national security, when it comes to strategic policy, that there is a Team Australia approach," he said.
He called on the Government to articulate a set of guiding principles underpinning the relationship with China.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten accused China of behaving like a bully and encouraged Australia to hold its ground.
"Perhaps China feels they can be the big authority, the big power, but I think they've underestimated our resolve," he said on Nine's Today Show.
ANU professor of strategic studies Hugh White said the Government's response yesterday had been "understandable … but I'm not sure it's an effective one".
He said it was important in diplomacy, especially amid heightened tensions, not to respond in anger.
"I can understand [the Prime Minister's] anger but I think you always end up risking looking a bit rattled and weak," he told RN, adding the Prime Minister doesn't "have his messages sorted out".
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2020-11-30 22:26:00Z
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