‘A past mindset’: Aukus upends Australia’s attempted US-China balancing act

Aukus upends Australia’s US-China balancing act as Canberra cements ‘its American course’ After years of being seen as the United States’ regional “deputy”, Australia has in recent months tried to shed that reputation – spurring much excitement that bilateral relations with China were finally on the mend, and that Canberra would pivot back to furthering regional engagement. This is thanks largely to the foreign policy initiatives of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, which took power last May. Penny Wong, …