Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Parliament. AFP
SCMP/AFP: Australian PM warns China’s ‘unprecedented influence’ in Pacific is changing the balance of power and challenging US interests
* Australia – a member of the “Five Eyes” Western intelligence alliance – finds itself in the middle of one of the 21st century’s geopolitical hotspots
* Tension between Canberra and Beijing has been heightened by decision to bar Chinese telecoms firms from operating Australia’s new 5G network
China’s rising and “unprecedented influence” in the Indo-Pacific region will challenge American interests, but confrontation must not define relations between the two powers, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned on Thursday.
In his first major foreign policy speech, Morrison tried to tread a careful line between Australia’s alliance with the United States and engaging a rapidly and evermore assertive China.
“Inevitably, in the period ahead, we will be navigating a higher degree of US-China strategic competition,” Morrison told the Asia Society Australia in Sydney.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The Australian PM issues his warning, but he is not going to get involved in the U.S. - China trade war .... Australia won't get into US-China trade war: PM (SBS News).
