US alliances and partnerships must be strengthened to push back against Chinese economic coercion, former PM Scott Morrison has told a US congressional panel.
“Above all, I would highlight the need to never become casual about the potential threat and to remain vigilant,” Morrison said in a rare appearance by a former national leader before Congress on Wednesday (local time).
“This is as true in the economic sphere as it is in the security sphere.”
He shared with the House Select Committee on China his experience of coping with Beijing’s trade punishments – including restrictions Australian exports such as wine and barley – after his government called for an independent inquiry into the origin of Covid-19.
Morrison was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. He is now a non-executive vice-chairman at consulting firm American Global Strategies, which was founded by former Trump adviser Robert O’Brien and Alexander Gray, a former White House director for Oceania security.
Morrison also has an advisory role at AUKUS investor DYNE Maritime, alongside former US Secretary of State and ex-CIA director Mike Pompeo.
DYNE is a venture capital company that invests in technologies related to AUKUS, which Morrison signed as PM.
Before the committee on Wednesday, Morrison cited Lowy Institute polling from this year that showed that 50 per cent of Australians said China was “more of an economic partner”, compared to 47 per cent who considered it “more of a security threat”.
That compared 2021-22, at the height of strained relations between Canberra and Beijing, when 63 per cent said China was more of a security threat and 33 per cent saw it as more of an economic partner.
“That is an objective of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) – that Western democracies will go to sleep on the threat,” Morrison said.
He said Beijing’s tactics had changed after the 2022 federal election, won by Labor because “they realised they’d got it wrong”. The CCP was now using “inductive engagement laced with charm and flattery” to try to manipulate Australia and isolate the US, Morrison said.
He told the committee that US allies and partners could be tapped to build an alternative supply chain of rare earths, which are used in technology such as smartphones.
For such alliances and partnerships to work, “there has to be a strong core, and that requires a strong America”, he said.
-with AAP
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