Australia has a robust relationship with China and will not contact Beijing over an embarrassing diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday.
Asked whether he would talk to China after the whistleblowing website released a State Department memo which said then prime minister Rudd told the United States it should prepare to deploy force against China "if everything goes wrong", Rudd said: "No, and nor do I intend to."
"The business of diplomacy is not to just roll over and have your tummy tickled from time to time by the Chinese or anyone else," he said.
Rudd refused to authenticate the cable which related to a March 2009 meeting with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, and which noted he also described Chinese leaders as "paranoid" about Taiwan and Tibet.
He said Australia has an extensive economic relationship with China, the country's biggest trading partner, and noted the countries disagreed from time to time.
"It's a robust relationship and diplomacy is a robust business," Rudd said. "That's life and that's normal.
"The business of diplomacy is to be firm about your national interests and to prosecute them accordingly as we have done in the past, as I will be doing in the future as foreign minister."
Rudd said the government would not be commenting on the content or accuracy of any WikiLeaks documents — expected to number some 250,000 once they are fully uploaded to the website.
"The whole business of diplomacy and the confidentiality of diplomatic communications and diplomatic documents is supposed to be maintained as such, that is, confidential," he said.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
