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While Australian officials might have been braced for a more vehement backlash from the Chinese side, Beijing has limited its public comments via its foreign affairs ministry spokesman to saying countries with key mineral resources “should play an active role in ensuring the security and stability of industrial and supply chains”.
When it comes to AUKUS, the Chinese side has long expressed its dissatisfaction with what it sees as a new Cold War-style “bloc confrontation”, a line it repeated this week after Trump gave his full endorsement to the submarine pact.
The USS North Dakota, a Virginia-class submarine of the type Australia would acquire under the AUKUS deal.
“We consistently oppose the creation of camp confrontation, the increase in the risk of nuclear proliferation, and the intensification of the arms race,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
The Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor said China’s response so far to the rare earths deal had been mild, but this could change, especially if Beijing felt it was unfairly locked out of foreign investment in the development of Australia’s rare earths mining sector.
“It’s not as though there’s a problem of rare earths supply for China; they’re rolling in it. So anything we do does not affect their national security one little bit,” McGregor said.
“The issue that the Chinese will zero in on is whether investment in Australia is limited or whether there’s any discrimination in approving investment in Australia. In other words, whether US investment is favoured over Chinese investment.”
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Japan in 2019.Credit: AP
McGregor cautioned that Beijing could still be absorbing the details of agreement and intensify its disapproval later.
Trump talked up the prospect of making a “good deal” with Xi on the sidelines of APEC on Tuesday (US time), while at the same time suggesting the meeting might not materialise.
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“I want him to make a good deal for China – but it’s got to be fair,” Trump said.
“Maybe it won’t happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, ‘I don’t want to meet, it’s too nasty.’ But it’s really not nasty. It’s just business.”
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