As the situation between the US-led allies and Moscow threatens to escalate, Australia’s prime minister encouraged China to oppose Russian threats towards Ukraine on Tuesday.
Since more than 100,000 Russian troops were dispatched to the Ukrainian border, Scott Morrison remarked, Beijing and Moscow have proclaimed they are pursuing closer ties.
“We would expect all nations, all governments across the world to condemn what is happening with the threats of violence against Ukraine,” Morrison said in Parliament.
“It’s worth noting that the Chinese and Russian governments are working together on this subject, and that the Chinese government has not condemned what’s going on in Ukraine,” he said.
He urged all federal legislators to join the Australian government in “urging the Chinese government to repudiate those activities and to allow an appropriate reaction through the United Nations rather than resisting that being done” through its UN Security Council membership.
Morrison’s accusations of China will exacerbate Australia’s already strained bilateral relationship with its most significant trading partner.
Following steps such as forbidding covert foreign influence in internal politics, blocking Chinese tech giant Huawei from important infrastructure contracts, and requesting an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 virus, Australia has faced trade reprisal in recent years.
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