Sydney, Aug 25 (ANI): Former Australian ambassador to Indonesia, John McCarthy, has said that Australians should not be made to think that they have to choose between the new ties with China and the military alliance with the US, and called for a more balanced approach in handling of relations with Asia.
McCarthy, President of Australian Institute of International Affairs, while addressing a conference held in the NSW Parliament, criticized Australia's political leaders for 'clumsy handling' of relations with Asia and slavish devotion to the US alliance.
"We should in terms of our own debate give ourselves the credit to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. But there is a lot to be said for paying our alliance dues only where it is strictly necessary in terms of the alliance, we don't necessarily have to please the Americans, as it is often put," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted McCarthy, as saying.
"We have to honour the terms of the alliance, as a responsible ally will do [but] not say things or offer things that really aren't necessary," he added.
He said that the announcement by President Barack Obama last November that the US would station 2500 marines in Darwin for six months every year was an example of an issue, which could have been handled better.
"The Chinese and the Indonesians could have been forewarned, very seriously, two or three days before, and explained very very carefully at a very senior level what it all meant. None of that was done," he said.
The former Defence Department Head and Ambassador to China, Richard Smith, also reiterated McCarthy's notions and claimed that Australia's foreign policy required more constancy.
"It needs the avoidance of duplicity, and our particular way of walking on both sides of the street at times in the past has been to say one thing to one side and another thing to another, to say one thing to the public and another thing in private," he said. (ANI)
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