Foreign affairs

Bob Hawke was Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991. During that time he enjoyed a close personal relationship with the Chinese leadership and pioneered the integration of the Australian and Chinese iron and steel industries.

“An unusually close relationship”

On March 5 1983 Bob Hawke won the election and replaced Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.

On June 4 2015 the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney presented the second instalment of our ‘Prime Ministers Series’. The Hon. Bob Hawke AC was Prime Minister from December 1983 to December 1991. He was Australia’s longest serving Labor Prime Minister, with four terms in office.

Mr Hawke discussed Australia’s burgeoning relationship with China during his time in as Prime Minister and contemporary developments in Chinese diplomacy with renowned journalist and broadcaster Geraldine Doogue.

Although Australia and China’s bilateral relations were formally established in 1972, Gough Whitlam initiated the process in 1971 as Opposition Leader. Mr Whitlam gathered a team and journeyed to China to be the first Australian delegation received by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.

It was a political risk in the face of staunch anti-Communist sentiments and the McMahon Government’s unwillingness to recognise China, ut Gough Whitlam had the foresight to envision the mutual benefits that would ensue.

In the East China Sea, where five islands are disputed between China and Japan, military aircraft could collide in the crowded skies. A ship could be sunk by accident. Roaming fishing fleets and cruise liners complicate the scenarios.

Monday's report by two academics, Nick Bisley and Brendan Taylor, shows how easily conflict could flare. With the US committed to Japan, would the ANZUS Treaty propel Australia into war? It is a war that few Australians would think was in our interests.

On September 30 2014 ACRI hosted a roundtable to discuss the complex bilateral issues surrounding intellectual property (IP) rights.

The roundtable focused on collaboration between Australia and China to tackle the proliferation of fake brands, cross-border enforcement of IP rights and problems of international jurisdiction and co-operation.

On March 23 2015 the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) hosted a panel event with two former Australian ambassadors to China; the first in our Ambassadors’ Series.

ACRI Director Bob Carr was joined by the very first Australian ambassador to China, Stephen FitzGerald, and David Irvine, ambassador from 2000 to 2003.

On March 17 2015 ACRI held the first event in our China Correspondents Series.

Our panel comprised Australian journalists who reported from Beijing. What were their bottom line conclusions about how China works? How did they cultivate sources? What do their experiences tell us about China's current role in world affairs?

Helene Chung was an ABC Beijing correspondent during 1983-1986, the first non-white reporter on Australian TV and the first female posted abroad by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

On February 24 2015 ACRI hosted His Excellency Dr Marty Natalegawa. Dr Natalegawa's visit was sponsored by Macquarie Bank.

A gifted professional diplomat who served from 2009 until 2014 as Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Dr Natalegawa also served as Indonesian Ambassador to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Watch the video to hear Dr Natalegawa in conversation with Bob Carr, ACRI Director and former Australian Foreign Minister, on China, South East Asia and Australia.

Although Australia and China’s bilateral relations were formally established in 1972, Gough Whitlam initiated the process in 1971. As Leader of the Opposition, Whitlam met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing. Whitlam took a political risk in the face of staunch anti-Communist sentiments and the McMahon Government’s unwillingness to recognise China.

On June 4 2015, in the second instalment of the ACRI Prime Ministers Series, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke discussed his China policy with the ABC's Geraldine Doogue.

Mr Hawke explored the role of personal rapport in the bilateral relationship and how it was rebuilt after Tiananmen. He also provided broader insights into the Australia-China relationship, based on his extensive contact with China in the last 25 years. 

The Hon Bob Hawke was Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991 during the period of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, the crisis of Tiananmen and the rise of Jiang Zemin.