Labor's foolish foreign policy statements

Comments on Australia's foreign policy by the ALP foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, as reported in The Sunday Age today, are foolish and irresponsible. They underline the weakness of Labor's commitment to the alliance with the United States.

Mr McClelland's ill-considered commentary on the future of the alliance comes on top of the extraordinary failure by Labor leader Kevin Rudd to see any political leaders, Republican or Democrat, during his recent visit to Washington.

What Labor fails to appreciate is that this Government has worked hard to strengthen simultaneously all of Australia's key international relationships.

The US alliance has never been stronger.

Likewise, our relationship with China has never been better.

Our ties to Japan are much broader and deeper than a decade ago. Similarly, relations with Indonesia have flourished.

The benefit of building and expanding these key partnerships is greater than the sum of its parts.

By strengthening our relationships with each of the US, Japan, China and Indonesia, it adds to our own strategic weight and heightens our capacity to get things done at a global level.

This is a sophisticated and successful strategy.

It is a pity Labor's foreign affairs spokesman is too simple-minded to understand that.

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