It's been an odd feature of the last 20 years of politics here how Labor's view of itself as the "natural" party for better Australian foreign policy has gone all askew. On the face of it, one would think that they have a point: it sees itself as less subservient to the US, emphasizes independence of foreign policy development and the importance of regional engagement, and academic foreign policy experts all appear broadly to be aligned with such sentiments.
Yet, I don't think anyone seriously denies that Keating was about as far off the mark as he possibly could have been when he said Asia would not take a Howard government "seriously".
Now, we have the counter-intuitive situation of aPrime Minister with apparent superb credentials to impress the Chinese getting slapped around the face by said country.
Go on Kevin, we're waiting to be impressed with your resolution of this problem.
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