Labor’s shadow defence minister, Richard Marles, says Australia’s relationship with China is in a “terrible” state following Scott Morrison’s visit to the United States. Speaking fresh from a visit to Beijing, Marles said that Morrison’s “megaphone diplomacy” alongside Donald Trump about China’s status as a developing country had inflamed tensions. “What I can say is that the state of the relationship as it exists between Australia and China right now is terrible,” Marles said. “Right now, we have a massive trust deficit in terms of our relationship with China, and we need to build trust,” he said. “If we’re engaging, then we need to be having the best relationship with China that we possibly can have.

Source: The Guardian September 29, 2019 02:48 UTC