Australia-Australia Chinatown-Morrison's Weapon of Former Australian Diplomat: Dealing with China "cannot use brute force"

Philip Flood, who served as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1996 to 1999, said that Australia's relationship with its largest trading partner fell to the "current low" because the two sides worked together.

A few days ago, New Zealand Minister of Trade Damien O'Connor also suggested that Australia should be "a little more polite" and "show more respect" to China.

Froude has served as ambassador to the UK, ambassador to Indonesia, and director-general of the Office of National Assessments, Australia's highest intelligence agency. He said that Australia needs to do more to invest in relations with China.

Froude also joined other critics who questioned Australia's foreign aid investment level.

Last year, Australia promised to provide 4.85 million Australian dollars in aid budget for the next four years to help Southeast Asian countries accelerate their economic development and directly challenge China's rising influence in the region.

But in the past decade, Australia has drastically cut aid to poor countries, and the new commitment means that the Morrison government has begun to reverse its policy after the outbreak.

This former intelligence chief is a researcher at the University of Melbourne Institute of Asia Conley-Taylor(Melissa Conley-Tyler) made the above remarks in an interview with Good Will Hunters podcast.

Conley Taylor stated that the biggest and most unexpected change in Australia's foreign policy in 2020 is the shift to Southeast Asia.

"The rise of China is significant all over the world. This is the key reason for Australia's increased involvement in Pacific affairs." She said, "Basically, we have always felt that the Pacific region is of course our territory, so even if we stop funding and stop cooperation It doesn’t matter. But now we understand that if we leave a vacuum, others will come in. I guess that some policymakers are involved in Southeast Asian affairs with the same idea.”