Research On Australian Labor Party’s Policy Tendency Towards China(1972-2013)

Australia is one of the most influential countries in the Asia-Pacific region.The predominant geographical location and actively participate in the international affairs have promoted its international strategic position.China and Australia are closely tied by economic and trade exchanges,thereby,the bilateral relations occupy an important role in Australia’s foreign relations.As the earliest and largest political party in Australia,the Australian Labor Party occupies a decisive position in domestic politics,and its policy tendency towards China has a far-reaching influence on the China-Australia relations.This article takes the Australian Labor Party’s policy tendency towards China as the research object,analyzes the evolution of the Australian Labor Party’s policy tendency towards China from 1972 to 2013 and focuses on the study of Whitlam,Hawke,Keating,Kevin Rudd and Gillard,who promote the normalization of Sino-Australian relations and make efforts to promote the deepening of bilateral relations between China and Australia.In addition,this thesis applying the relevant theory makes a deep analysis for the leading cause of its policy tendency.The Australian Labor Party’s policy tendency towards China presents different characteristics in different periods.Before the mid-1940 s,Australia’s foreign policy followed the British Empire’s foreign policy and maintained a very alienated attitude towards China.After the Second World War,Australia abandoned Britain and turned to the United States;hence,it followed the leadership of the United States in security and diplomacy and adopted a hostile attitude towards the communism.The Labor government did not dare to go against the will of the U.S.on the issue of China,so the attitude towards the People’s Republic of China was hesitation.Until the sixties,the Labor government had a rational and pragmatic contact with the new China.Under the leadership of Whitlam,the Australian Labor Party won the general election in December 1972.Shortly after the ruling,Whitlam set out to adjust the policy towards China,broke through the shackles of the United States and Britain and established a formal diplomatic relations with China.The Australian Labor Party government made a great change from the past rejection to recognize new China to build a new China-Australia friendship and cooperative relations.It became a turning point in the development of bilateral relations.Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia,the Australian Labor Party came into power for five times.Although the previous Labor government had been adjusted in China policy,the policy showed a certain degree of coherence and consistency.On the political and diplomatic,the Labor government made judgments on international affairs independently,did the opposite of the United States timely and tried to gain independent;on the economic and cultural,the Labor government constantly strengthened exchanges and contacts with China.In the Whitlam government,Whitlam laid the foundation for the friendly development of Sino-Australia relations ahead of the United States which pay a visit to China later.In the early days of the Hawke government,the Sino-Australia relations were in the "honeymoon period".However,the Labor government followed the United States to impose severe sanctions on China after the Beijing political turmoil in 1989,and accused China of the so-called "human rights".The relations between the two countries sank into a freezing point.Promoted by economic interests,Keating government canceled the sanction to China,and actively promoted China’s accession to APEC.The Kevin Rudd government was actively engaged in developing friendly relations with China and advocated to contain China by relying on the power of allies while maintaining Australia’s national defense and economic security.The Gillard government’s China policy was more inclined to pragmatism,and did not forget to maintain the friendly development of China-Australia relations while strengthening the consolidation of allies to against the rise of China at the same time.In the process of the evolution of the Australian Labor Party’s policy towards China,there are many factors that affect the Australia’s policy on China.From the domestic level,there are three aspects: the driving away from the national interest;the ideological differences between China and Australia and the political inclination of the social class represented by the Labor Party.At the international level,the evolution of the international pattern in the Asia-Pacific region;China’s diplomatic strategy and the foreign policy towards Australia;the Australia-US alliance and the Australia-Japan alliance and Taiwan factors have affected the Australian Labor Party and its policy towards China.In general,the pursuit of national interests is the core of the Australian Labor Party’s policy towards China,and the Australia-US alliance is the main factor influencing the Australian Labor Party’s policy tendency towards China.It is foreseeable that in order to maximize the national interests,the Australian Labor Party in the next period will pay more attention to economic and trade relations with China as well as prevent the impact of China’s rise on the original pattern of Asia-Pacific region.