Ex-Australian PM speaks at SFS-QDoha: Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (pictured), who was in Doha recently, spoke about the challenges that China poses, and offered thoughts about the future of the Asia-Pacific region during a lecture at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q).
The new Chinese President, Xi Jinping, is a leader with which Australia and America can do business, said Rudd. He believes now is the time for Australia and America to develop a new strategic road-map for US-China relations.
“We in Australia should now be working with our American friends on how to develop a new strategic road-map for US-China relations over the next five years,” said Rudd.
During his lecture titled ‘What the Change in Communist Leadership says about China’s Future’, the 26th PM of Australia outlined a proposal for the leaders of the US and China to formulate a five-year strategic roadmap based on a regional rules-based security order.
He shared his views on the new Chinese president and his own personal interactions with him.
“He is, therefore, I believe a leader that both Australia and the United States can do business with. And this should include how together we can build a stable, rules-based security order of East Asia out of the emerging machinery of the East Asian Summit,” Rudd said.
He also shared the idea of a ‘Pax Pacifica’ which will aim to ease the tensions between the US and China and promote security and strategic cooperation. He said that the first term of the Xi Jinping’s Presidency will be dominated by economic reform.
“I believe his first term will focus overwhelmingly on the task of further economic reform. And if that succeeds, he may well embrace the task of political reform during his second term.”
As the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Rudd took the lead in making sure that Australia engaged with China and the wider region.
Meanwhile, Steven Ward, Assistant Professor, SFS-Q said that the rise of China has the potential to bring with it the most significant transformation in international politics since the end of the Cold War.
The Peninsula
