Reynolds defends strong China stance

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has hit back at criticisms by some big WA businesses about the nation’s relationship with China.

Australia was standing up for its own sovereignty by highlighting foreign interference and cyber attacks, regardless of which country may be behind them, Ms Reynolds told a Business News Politics & Policy event this morning.

She challenged critics to say what the government should not be doing.

“We are standing up for our national interest,” Ms Reynolds said.

“That is what Australians want us to do, they want us to stand up for Australian interests and protect our sovereignty.”

It comes after rising trade tensions with China, with restrictions on WA agribusiness exports levied and more looming.

Premier Mark McGowan warned the federal government not to engage in megaphone diplomacy.

But Ms Reynolds said this was far from the case, with ministers trying to work behind the scenes on a resolution.

More broadly, she said this was a critical phase in the country’s strategic history.

“The world that we grew up in is no more and it is not coming back,” she said.

“While we have not changed as a people, the behaviour of others in our region has, and that is very clear.

“The stark reality for all of us is we are now facing the most consequential strategic realignment since the end of World War 2.”

The post-COVID world would be poorer, more dangerous and more disorderly, she said.

And threats had changed to be in a grey zone: economic diversion, supply chain disruption, foreign interference and cyber security.

“In this grey zone, where the screws are tightened, influence becomes interference, cooperation becomes coercion, and investment becomes entrapment,” Ms Reynolds said.