Riding high from a successful bilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump, Australia’s ambassador Kevin Rudd has heaped praise on Anthony Albanese for managing the alliance while repairing ties with China.
Shrugging off the tongue-in-cheek personal jabs he received from Mr Trump during a press spray, Mr Rudd told high-powered financial executives at the Citi A50 Sydney Investment Summit Canberra was viewed positively in Washington DC.
“Australia … is enjoying a first-class working relationship with the Trump administration … and you’ve seen some of the practical fruit of that from what the PM agreed to in recent days,” he said on Thursday in a gilded room at the Opera House.
Mr Rudd was referring to the multibillion-dollar deal inked earlier in October that gives the US greater access to Australia’s critical mineral reserves.
Mr Trump heaped praise on Mr Albanese at an exclusive dinner with other world leaders on Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, talking up co-operation between the US and Australia.
“You’ve done a fantastic job … we’re working together on rare earths, but we’re working on a lot of things together and it’s working out very well,” he said.
In a fireside chat with NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey at the Sydney summit, former prime minister Mr Rudd said Mr Albanese was pivotal in restoring ties with China after “there were many disruptions to the trade relationship”.
Ties strained to near breaking point under Scott Morrison’s tenure before being steadied, but jockeying for political and military influence in the Asia-Pacific has required careful management of links with the US and China.
“The underlying strategic tensions in the region will remain and the practical challenge for statecraft will be how those rolling operational tensions are navigated,” Mr Rudd said.
Both Australia and China recently traded barbs over an encounter between their militaries in the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
The government said a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares near one of its patrol planes, prompting Beijing to complain that Canberra was trying to cover up an “intrusion” into Chinese airspace.
Mr Albanese has sidestepped the hiccups and said he hoped trade tensions between the US and China would ease.
“The United States and China have an important role as the two major economic powers that exist in our region,” he said.
“These are important relationships for Australia.”
The talks between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which Mr Rudd said were “of foundational importance”, follow months of friction over tariffs and security.
“We have been able to manage, not only a stable, productive and expansive relationship with the US … we’ve also restabilised the China relationship as well,” Mr Rudd said.
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