What's Former Australian PM John Howard Doing In China? Let's Not Forget Alexander Downer Was His Foreign Minister Way Back When. Chinese senior official meets former Australian prime minister BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Friday met with former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was leading an Australian delegation to the fifth session of the China-Australia High-Level Dialogue in Beijing. Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that China-Australia ties were improving. "As long as the two sides adhere to mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, they can push bilateral ties to maintain a stable development," Yang said. China is ready to work with the Australian side to boost political mutual trust, expand pragmatic cooperation, promote people-to-people exchanges, strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional issues so as to realize mutual benefit and win-win results, Yang said. The session has achieved positive outcomes, Howard said, adding that all social circles of Australia were willing to play an active role in promoting new progress in bilateral ties. The Downer legacy (part 1): Howard and Downer In the beginning, there was a moment when Alexander Downer’s term as Foreign Minister could have been as short as his leadership of the Liberal Party. Instead of serving as Foreign Minister for nearly a dozen years, he could have been gone from the office in less than six months. In 1996, his first year as Foreign Minister, Downer stumbled into an Asian policy.... However he was a true and faithful servant of Howard foreign policy. Greg Hunt says Downer worked at having a constant conversation with Howard: "Nobody talked with Howard more at ministerial level over the life of the government than Alexander. Often, during a parliamentary week, the PM would invite Alexander down to talk: not just foreign affairs, any area of the government. If there was an area that Alexander thought the PM was missing an opportunity or off-line, he’d see him. If the PM needed counsel, it would be more likely than not that he’d call Alexander. They had dinner together, they exchanged ideas, and they’d speak on the phone in non-parliamentary weeks probably every second day, and in many periods ever day. " Flashback :  Howard, Downer, AusAid, East Timor A spying scandal exposes Australia’s immoral behavior toward East Timor  AusAid, Australia’s foreign aid agency, which then operated under the oversight of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, was providing post-conflict reconstruction and development assistance to East Timor. Downer was also, of course, the Australian High Commissioner to the UK who met Trump staff member George Papadopoulos in May 2016, in the Kensington Wine Rooms in London, and then passed on to Australian and US authorities what Papadopoulos had told him about the Trump camp and its contacts with Russia. In April 2004, ASIS placed operatives among aid workers deployed by AusAid to Dilli, in order to embed surveillance equipment in the cabinet and ministerial offices of the Timorese premier, Mari Alkatiri. The main target of the spy operation was Peter Galbraith, a former US diplomat and UN deputy in Afghanistan who was acting as Timor’s chief negotiator. Through this action, Canberra gained sensitive information on East Timor’s strategy. This gave it considerable advantage in negotiations. With its treasury almost empty and in desperate need of the oil revenues, Dilli agreed to a deal, in May 2005. Aid agencies of donor countries establish a delicate relationship of trust with recipient countries. Intelligence agents deployed under the cover of aid projects exploit that trust and put at risk the freedom and lives of all legitimate aid workers. In this case, many in the Australian intelligence community were also concerned at the blurring of the boundary between public and private sector commercial interest, and the diversion of scarce resources from the investigation of the terrorist bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta on 9 September 2004 that killed 9 people.  With the defeat of the government of Premier John Howard in 2007, Downer retired from Parliament in 2008 and also landed a well-paid consultancy with Woodside. Subsequently, following prescribed procedures, the Australian head of the technical unit in the 2004 bugging of the offices – described in court documents only as “Witness K” – communicated his unease about aspects of the operation to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. The Downer legacy: Northeast Asia In Beijing in August 2004, Alexander Downer talked about Australia building a strategic relationship with China that went beyond economics and embraced security issues. Pressed on how such strategic ties with China might impact on the alliance with the US, the Foreign Minister produced an on-the-spot analysis of the operation and reach of the ANZUS alliance. The problem for Downer is that the question from the journalist Hamish McDonald specifically asked about Australia's possible treaty obligation to help the US defend Taiwan. In replying, Downer's answer rested on the correct but highly delicate point that the ANZUS treaty doesn't actually oblige any partner to do anything other than to consult. The option to do nothing is always available: Well, the ANZUS Treaty is a treaty which of course is symbolic of the Australian alliance relationship with United States, but the ANZUS Treaty is invoked in the event of one of our two countries, Australia or the United States, being attacked. So some other military activity elsewhere in the world, be it in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter does not automatically invoke the ANZUS Treaty. It is important to remember that we only invoked the ANZUS Treaty once, that is after the events of 9/11, because there was an attack on the territory of the United States. It is very important to remember that in the context of your question. The Sydney Morning Herald headlined this as 'ANZUS loyalties fall under China's shadow', reporting Downer as saying that the Australia would not feel obliged to help the US defend Taiwan. The US ambassador in Canberra leapt in to say the US certainly would expect Australia to help defend Taiwan. And the Prime Minister gave an artful demonstration of the side-step denial, delivered with a heavy garnish of praise. No, John Howard said, Downer had certainly not blundered: 'He has been an excellent Foreign Affairs Minister. I have no more dependable able colleague than Alexander Downer.' As to Taiwan? 'Hypothetical!' said the Prime Minister. Downer's Beijing presser was one moment when Canberra's complex set of interests in Northeast Asia were seen to clash rather than coexist. It is notable because Downer and Howard can be given high marks for the relative smoothness they achieved in Australia's separate and linked dealings with China, Japan and the US. Trade with China boomed.  In 1997, Australia announced a bilateral dialogue with China on human rights. The new bilateral policy meant Canberra withdrew its support for the annual UN human rights resolution criticising China. The acknowledgement of China's power got another run in 1997 at the British handover of Hong Kong. Australia broke with the US and Britain, which boycotted the opening of Hong Kong's new Provisional Legislature, created by China. Alexander Downer joined the rest of Asia in attending the full ceremony.