Former Australia PM Scott Morrison says China can be a democracy; its people ‘care just as much about freedom as we do’

Ties between the two countries have improved following Morrison’s defeat and the election of the centre-left Labor government in May 2022. Earlier this year, Morrison announced he was quitting Australia’s parliament, and later joined a consulting firm run by former US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

Morrison said Canberra’s relationship with China will always be transactional and never “values-based” like Australia’s ties with the US.

“Not with their government,” Morrison said in reference to Beijing. “It potentially could be values-based with their people.”

Australia ‘buying US hegemony’, ex-PM says as he slams Canberra’s China policy

Morrison said he never held a state visit to China in his time in office, but he did meet Chinese President Xi Jinping several times for informal talks. Asked what Xi was like, Morrison described him as an “able politician.”

“He knew what he wanted, he knew where he was going,” Morrison said. “But as time wore on, the sort of charismatic exterior gave way to a more autocratic, authoritarian outlook on the region.”

Morrison said the Chinese government was irritated that Australia didn’t sign up for their international Belt and Road Initiative, which he described as “effectively their empire building process.”

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