In Australia, a
billboard is doing the rounds stating: “CCP says vote Labor.” The red billboard
featuring a hammer and sickle, symbols of the Communist movement, is endorsed
by a fringe conservative political group called Advance Australia. But the
conversation the group seeks to inspire is far from fringe. Australia’s
relations with China are among the biggest issues in the federal polls scheduled
later this month.

Xi Jinping, the
Chinese President and the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, has a strong
presence in the Australian domestic political narrative. It was during his
regime that China’s relations with Australia soured to a great extent. Now, Australian
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who leads a Liberal-National alliance
government, and his closest competitor Anthony Albanese, are trading
accusations at each other for being closer to Xi.

Morrison, while
referring to the Albanese, Australian Labor Party’s deputy leader, said he was
the Chinese government’s pick in the elections and described him as a “Manchurian
candidate.” The phrase is a Cold War-era insult that means a political leader working
on behalf of an enemy power. The phrase “Manchurian candidate” comes from
American novelist Richard Cordon’s 1959 thriller novel titled “The Manchurian
Candidate.”

While Morrison
later withdrew his comments, Albanese has heaped the same insult at the
Australian prime minister.

Public opinion
polls, notoriously unreliable, indicate a Labor win in the upcoming polls.
While Albanese has said, “Xi has changed the nature of the Chinese Communist
Party. It’s more forward leaning. It’s more aggressive. And that means
Australia, of course, must respond,” indicating a stern view, there exists the
expectation that Australia-China relations will alter, even if slightly, if a
Labor government in power. On paper, however, the Liberal and Labor foreign
policies are nearly the same.

China is Australia’s
biggest trading partner. As such, the lack of a clear communication line
between Beijing and Canberra often hurts Australia’s own interests, but, Australian
domestic politics has increasingly taken a stern view of China and what is
perceived as Beijing’s methods to exert greater influence.

Over the last few
years, there has been bipartisan support in Australia over substantial shifts
in the country’s China policy. The national security argument looms large and
the focus is on the AUKUS agreement, the Quad arrangement and Canberra’s plans
to buy nuclear submarines. The Quad, a four-way alliance comprising Australia,
Japan, US and India, is scheduled the meet next month. While who will attend on
Australia’s behalf remains unclear, the China question is expected to emerge in
a big way when the Quad meets.