... partner. He tried to grin his way through the mess , and nothing he might say on it now after the event could be trusted again.
O’Neill lacked the confidence or authority to ensure that China and the US would both behave according to the protocols of APEC.
Australian diplomacy, which should have been stiffening PNG’s chairman’s spine, was missing in action. The meeting fatally degenerated into a theatre for China-US rivalry.
No doubt Australia’s US-compliant mainstream media will spin this story in ...
... relations, on the fly. It is also important that contact with Japan and Austria, which had followed up with sanctions and increasing tension, took place in a fairly friendly atmosphere. At the end of his meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan declared his intention to develop “a trusting personal relationship with the Russian president”, and moreover new dates were arranged for a visit by Putin to Japan. Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott did not make any “harsh statements”, despite the exaggerated statement by an Australian representative just beforehand about their determination to demand an “apology” from the Russian ...