Scott Morrison has condemned any potential Chinese military support for Russia’s attack on Ukraine as an “abomination”.
The Prime Minister’s comments come a day after Australia suggested it would seek to follow the United States in imposing sanctions against Beijing should it send arms to Moscow as the conflict rages on.
The relationship between the two powerful nations was in the spotlight on Wednesday as a high level diplomatic meeting took place at Parliament House and China was scrutinised at two other significant events in Canberra.
Mr Morrison signalled Australia was watching China closely, saying he was disturbed by its “chilling silence” on the Russian invasion.
“I think it is very important for China to be very transparent about what is their relationship with Russia,” he told reporters in Perth.
“What is their relationship with Russia, when it comes to throwing them an economic lifeline during this global crisis? And potentially, what, if any, support has been discussed for military support for Russia? Because that would be an abomination.”
China has maintained it is acting impartially and declined to criticise Russia or refer to its invasion – which the United Nations says has killed at least 691 civilians – as a war.
Beijing has dismissed reports Moscow has asked it for military assistance as fake news, although the US has this week raised concerns about the potential for it to help the Kremlin.
China’s new Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian met with Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong at Parliament House on Wednesday, a week after he met with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne.
Senator Wong earlier this year said China had a “unique responsibility” to urge restraint from Moscow because of the close relationship between the two countries.
Speaking before the meeting on Wednesday, Senator Wong said China had failed in its special responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
“China does have a choice to make,” she said in an address to the US Studies Centre.
“We would expect it to do the responsible thing and support the people of Ukraine and its sovereignty, and not supply weapons to Russia.”
Defence Minister Peter Dutton took aim at China in his speech at the same event on Wednesday.
He said the superpower may seek to use the Ukraine conflict as a “useful distraction and an opportunity to pursue their own acts of aggression and coercion”.
“This threat emanates chiefly from Beijing, which has its own openly stated territorial ambitions and which recently entered a ‘no-limits’ co-operative partnership with the Kremlin,” Mr Dutton said.
Western nations are yet to impose sanctions on China in relation to Russia and the Ukraine conflict.
Two of Australia’s top security and intelligence minds said later that day they would be surprised if the West moved to do so, because Beijing would keep its relationship with Moscow “murky”.
Paul Dibb and Dennis Richardson said China was likely taken aback by the West’s co-operative response to the Ukraine invasion, which could have implications for any planned attack on Taiwan.
The leading experts with decades of experience in defence made the comments at the National Press Club.
Mr Richardson, a former Department of Defence Secretary, said China would likely operate in a “grey, murky area” which would make it difficult to impose sanctions or punishments.
“My own personal view is that China will support Russia, but I think it will measure out that support in a way that probably keeps it below what might be the sanctions threshold for the US,” he said.
“So it would surprise me if we got to the point where sanctions were being imposed on China.”
Professor Dibb said China’s president would be scrutinising “in exquisite detail” how much his Russian counterpart was getting away with in his use of military force against a “sovereign country across sovereign boundaries”.
“And what does that mean for Xi Jinping in regards to – shall he warm it up with regard to Taiwan?” Professor Dibb posed.
“It’s one thing to cross land borders and the Russians have clxjmtzywearly found that a bit of a challenge. The Taiwan Strait is … serious stuff.”
But Professor Dibb said Beijing had already demonstrated there was indeed a limit to the “no limits” partnership it signed with Moscow just last month.
“We’ve already seen that China had a limit in not voting for Russia in the United Nations. China has already articulated, silently, that there are limits,” the former director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation said.
“I think China will give what support it can to Russia that it can get away with.”
