#Australia

France ambassador to Australia

18 Sep 2021 1 3

Peter Ricketts

Inserted 2 years ago

“Don't underestimate reaction in Paris. It's not just anger but a real sense of betrayal that UK as well as US and Australia negotiated behind their backs for 6 months. I lived the rupture in 2003 over Iraq. This feels as bad or worse.”

Former permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office and former UK ambassador to France

17 Sep 2021 5 5

Jean-Yves Le Drian

Inserted 2 years ago

“This exceptional decision is justified because of the exceptional seriousness of the announcements made on 15 September by Australia and the United States.”

Foreign Minister of France

17 Sep 2021 2 3

Pierre Morcos

Inserted 2 years ago

“Reassuring words such as those heard yesterday from Secretary Blinken [Antony Blinken] are not enough for Paris - especially after French authorities learned that this agreement was months in the making.”

Visiting fellow at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies

17 Sep 2021 6 3

Jean-Yves Le Drian

Inserted 2 years ago

“The abandonment of the submarine project ... and the announcement of a new partnership with the United States aiming at launching new studies for future possible nuclear propulsion cooperation is unacceptable behaviour between allies. The consequences touch the very concept that we have of alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe.”

Foreign Minister of France

17 Sep 2021 5 3

Joanne Ou

Inserted 2 years ago

“Building on the solid existing foundations, our government will continue to work closely with the United States, Australia and other countries with similar ideas to expand Taiwan's international space, safeguard democracy and shared values, and a rules-based international order, and jointly safeguard peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Spokesperson of Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

17 Sep 2021 5 3

Ben Wallace

Inserted 2 years ago

“The Australians have taken this decision that they want to make a change. We didn't go fishing for that but as a close ally, when the Australians approached us, of course, we would consider it. I understand France's frustration about it.”

UK Secretary of State for Defence

16 Sep 2021 3 3

Jean-Yves Le Drian

Inserted 2 years ago

“The American choice, which leads to the removal of an ally and a European partner such as France from a longstanding partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, whether on our values or on respect for multilateralism based on the rule of law, marks an absence of coherence that France can only observe and regret.”

Foreign Minister of France

16 Sep 2021 4 4

Lijian Zhao

Inserted 2 years ago

“The nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia has seriously undermined regional peace and stability, intensified the arms race and undermined international non-proliferation efforts. The export of highly sensitive nuclear submarine technology to Australia by the US and the UK proves once again that they are using nuclear exports as a tool for geopolitical game and adopting double standards. This is extremely irresponsible. As a non-nuclear weapon state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a party to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ) Treaty, known as the Treaty of Rarotonga, Australia is now introducing nuclear submarine technology of strategic and military value. The international community, including Australia's neighboring countries, has full reason to question whether Australia is serious about fulfilling its nuclear non-proliferation commitments. China will pay close attention to the development of the relevant situation.”

Fmprc

Spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry

16 Sep 2021 13 5

Clive Hamilton

Inserted 2 years ago

“Beijing uses economic coercion quite ruthlessly. Initially, the trade bans caused great consternation. But the government in Canberra made it very clear that Australia would not compromise or sacrifice its fundamental principles and would protect our democratic system from China's interference. Despite the economic pain in some sectors, China's economic bullying also helped the Australian government and public to harden their attitude toward the country, and businesses to find new markets. If we back down we will never get our independence back. It is important to continue to develop closer relations with other countries that want to protect their sovereignty from China's influence, interference, bullying and economic blackmail. Countries must ask themselves whether they are willing to pay a price in order to retain their national sovereignty and the democratic rights citizens enjoy. With an aggressive, authoritarian China threatening these, people must decide - money or freedom.”

Koreatimes

Professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and author of the book 'Silent Invasion'

08 Sep 2021 3 4

Chen Xu

Inserted 2 years ago

“The US, UK, Australia and other countries must be held accountable for the violation of human rights committed by their military in Afghanistan and the evolution of this current session should cover this issue. Under the banner of democracy and human rights the US and other countries carry out military interventions in other sovereign states and impose their own model on countries with vastly different history and culture.”

Swissinfo

China’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva

24 Aug 2021 8 5

Jacinda Ardern

Inserted 2 years ago

“You'll see Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues [trade with China and human rights in China] consistently so I really push back on any suggestion that we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues.”

Taiwannews

New Zealand Prime Minister

31 May 2021 2 3

Nanaia Mahuta

Inserted 2 years ago

“We cannot ignore, obviously, what's happening in Australia with their relationship with China. And if they are close to an eye of the storm or in the eye of the storm, we've got to legitimately ask ourselves - it may only be a matter of time before the storm gets closer to us. The signal I'm sending to exporters is that they need to think about diversification in this context - Covid-19, broadening relationships across our region, and the buffering aspects of if something significant happened with China. Would they be able to withstand the impact?”

New Zealand foreign minister

24 May 2021 2 4

Reinhard Bütikofer

Inserted 2 years ago

“The current discussions are very serious. In the EU, the parliament has adopted a global connectivity strategy and connectivity financing has been included in the programming of the [Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument], the EU's global financing instrument. President Biden has highlighted the issue. India, Japan, Australia, ASEAN, and other partners are highly interested in moving the connectivity agenda forward. China has been exploiting the needs of developing countries, but lamenting about that fact without offering an alternative is useless. You cannot fight something with nothing. The difference between Western connectivity strategy and China's BRI [Belt and Road Initiative] will be threefold: We will insist on high-quality and high-standard projects; we will avoid debt traps; we will mobilize private-sector involvement to strengthen our initiatives.”

Rferl

German politician and the chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China

19 May 2021 10 3

Antony Blinken

Inserted 2 years ago

“I reiterated that the United States will not leave Australia alone on the field, or maybe I should say alone on the pitch, in the face of economic coercion by China. And we've made clear to the PRC how such actions targeting our closest partners and allies will hinder improvements in our own relationship with China.”

U.S. Secretary of State

13 May 2021 2 2

Mike Goldman

Inserted 3 years ago

“We're committed as allies to working together [US and Australia] - not only in making our militaries interoperable and functioning well together, but also in strategic planning. And when you look at strategic planning, it covers the range of contingencies that you've mentioned [a potential role for Australia in a Taiwan contingency], of which Taiwan is obviously an important component.”

Taipeitimes

Charge d’affaires ad interim at the US embassy in Canberra

01 Apr 2021 2 4

Benoit Hardy-Chartrand

Inserted 3 years ago

“The fact that the quad meeting now is going to be at the leader level is certainly an illustration of the seriousness with which, and the importance that, all four partners give to this partnership.”

East Asia analyst at Temple University in Tokyo

11 Mar 2021 4 3

Marise Payne

Inserted 3 years ago

“We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully.”