PM finally showing foreign policy

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a mixed record on foreign affairs. The rebaduring message that he was happy to continue running an independent middle race between the opposing powers of China and the US.
Mr Morrison is backing back and saying that the US and China are confronting each other. Damage where no one benefits. Lose-lose ''.
That might seem unremarkable and, indeed, it was what he had predicted Malcolm Turnbull used to say, but it was worth stating because Mr Morrison had shown worrying signs of embracing US President Donald Trump's confrontational, anti-globalist agenda.

Mr Morrison played straight from Trump's songbook two weeks ago when he mused about moving Iran building nuclear weapons. Nowadays, Mr Morrison has dropped this populist adventurism.
Although he did not want to go back to his country, he would not be able to speak to me, but he would have liked to hear from the anti-China rhetoric. That's crucial. Australia should not jeopardize its trade relationship with China to please the US. He stressed the alliance with the US but also offered a strategy for de-escalating the danger between China and the US. Mr Morrison said that it is a question of resolving disputes at the World Trade Organization by rather than imposing unilateral tariffs that the US has adopted.
In general, the Prime Minister has made some political points. His speech was not too different from that of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who said last week the ALP would not agree with '' every tweet out of the White House '' but would still oppose China when appropriate. Mr Shorten bravely said Australia would discreetly raise concerns about China's Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang.
While all this is rebaduring, it is still too early to judge Mr. Morrison understands how to run foreign policy. He skipped the United Nations General Assembly last month, missing the chance to meet key world leaders. He failed to consult diplomats or generals before announcing his Jerusalem initiative.
At least APEC, East Asia and G20 summits. Yet that was drowned out by another silly step when Mr Morrison put domestic politics ahead of long-term foreign policy. He attacked Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for criticizing the Jerusalem policy. He then claimed Mr Turnbull had no mandate to discuss the issue with Indonesian President Joko Widodo when he went to Bali as Australia's representative at an environmental conference. Mr Morrison had asked Mr Turnbull to join in Indonesia, yet the PM could not resist bickering with Mr Turnbull to make some political point. The Indonesians will be even more confused.

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