Australia more rational about relations

Australian Foreign Minister Penelope Ying-Yen Wong recently told a CNN journalist what she expected in the world around Australia. "A region and a global order in which not a country dominates and not a country is dominated," she said. The journalist tried to lead the conversation astray by saying China was "dominating" the region, but Wong shot back saying, "I wouldn't use the language".

That short video went viral on domestic social networking sites. Australia knows that a neutral policy rather than taking sides best serves its interests. China knows that and so does the US, but certain Western journalists seem not to know this fact that is more than obvious.

Wong made the remarks not because she has Chinese Malaysian blood, but because she holds a post where she needs to serve national interests. Australia has suffered too much because of the earlier Scott Morrison administration's policy of leaning overwhelmingly on the US for support. So much so that it decided to spend over 200 billion Australian dollars ($128.16 billion) in the coming 30 years, by rescinding a submarine-building contract it had signed with France, in the process offending it.

It was not until Anthony Albanese became prime minister that Australia shifted toward a more practical diplomatic strategy. The Australians have once again realized where their true national interests lie and it will not be that easy for Western politicians to tie the continent to their boat again.

Neither can a few reporters of certain Western media outlets upset things. However hard they try to mislead Australian leaders in their interviews, such tactics cannot trick the latter into making decisions at the cost of their national interests. Such tricks only make their doers laughed at.