Non LI Event - Between two giants, Noosa Longweekend Festival

The question of Australia’s future between the United States and China was the focus of the Forum debate 'Caught between Giants: China and the USA'  at the Noosa Longweekend Festival on 16 June, 2012. The panel, which included East Asia Program Director Linda Jakobson, discussed the implications for Australia of a re-emerging China, focusing on the competing policy priorities of Australia given its security alliance with the United States and its pivotal trading relationship with China.

The panel was chaired by ABC's Paul Barclay and comprised of Linda Jakobson, Sydney University Professor Alan Dupont (a Lowy Institute Non-resident Senior Fellow), Dr Paul Monk of Austhink Consulting and Peter Hartcher of The Sydney Morning Herald.

The panel was asked to consider whether Australia must choose between China and the United States. Linda Jakobson said that the need to choose is predicated on the inevitably of a conflict, which is unlikely given the unprecedented level of economic interdependence between China and the United States. If there is no military conflict between the United States and China, Australia will not be compelled to choose. However, Australia needs to formulate its China policies based on its own national interests, not merely through the prism of the Australia-US Alliance.