16-07-2025
PETER VAN ONSELEN: Wait, what did Albo just say? Unsettling quote proves PM has become a mouthpiece for China - as mysterious power struggle in Xi's palace puts world at risk of WAR
Anthony Albanese is still in China, deep into a six-day diplomatic tour that was supposed to reset relations but is fast becoming a masterclass in strategic submission.
With each passing press appearance, the Prime Minister looks less like a leader navigating a complex bilateral relationship, and more like a compliant visitor reciting his host's lines.
Take his response to the latest flashpoint: Chinese military exercises skirting Australian waters, which defence officials here say pose a risk to our personnel.
When asked whether Beijing had asserted a right to operate so close to our coastline, and whether Australia had sought better lines of communication to avoid future incidents, Albanese's reply was telling: 'President Xi said that China engaged in exercises just as Australia engages in exercises.'
That's not an explanation, it's an endorsement. A Chinese official couldn't have put it better, from their perspective.
This isn't careful diplomacy, it's parroting Beijing's preferred narrative while sidestepping the serious strategic implications for Australia.
Albo didn't challenge the characterisation, but nor did he signal any unease at the situation. He certainly didn't defend the principle of Australian sovereignty, which he's done repeatedly when countering US requests for higher defence spending.
Instead, he lent credibility to a line that serves China's interests -- not ours.
While the PM makes carefully stage-managed appearances while in China, the Middle Kingdom's domestic politics appear anything but stable.
Rumours are swirling that Xi Jinping's grip on power is fraying. Another senior figure, Defence Minister Li Shangfu, has vanished from public life, apparently purged in an escalating internal power struggle.
Analysts are increasingly unsure whether Xi is consolidating control or flailing in the face of growing dissent inside the Communist Party's ranks.
Whichever it is, the risks of turmoil are clearly rising. Beijing's military posture over Taiwan has only grown more aggressive in recent times, with Western analysts now openly warning of miscalculations that could tip into open conflict.
Against this backdrop, what does Albo offer? Deference. He walks the halls of Chinese power, echoing lines that downplay its provocations. He dodges hard questions about trade coercion, cyberattacks and political interference.
The trip, of course, is being spun as a diplomatic success - but only if 'success' means avoiding offence to the Chinese Politburo.
And, as if to confirm how well he's sticking to the script, China's state-controlled China Daily newspaper is lavishing praise on Albanese.
When an authoritarian regime publicly congratulates a visiting democratic leader, it usually means the latter left his principles at the airport.
What we're seeing is part of a larger pattern. This is a Prime Minister who governs by hedging: on tax reform, on climate ambition, on anything politically fraught. In foreign policy that risk-averse instinct translates into ambiguity.
But ambiguity, when misapplied risks becoming appeasement. And right now our PM isn't just being careful, he's being co-opted.
Australia faces an increasingly unpredictable power in its region, one led by a man who may no longer be as unchallenged as he once seemed.
The risk of conflict is therefore rising.
