STRALIAN voters could be presaging a positive change in Canberra's foreign policy priorities in repudiating the conservative coalition's Mr John Howard at the weekend, in favour of the Labor Party under Mr Kevin Rudd. The most plausible re-orientation would be deeper collegial ties with China, the biggest buyer of Australian ores and energy and a primary factor in the nation's extended boom. Australia in this century of shifting continental polarity would be wise to build a special relationship with China, down to dampening America's expectation that it help provide military support if Taiwan faces problems with the mainland. Growing opinion in Australia sees this as not just a matter of prudence in knowing on which side its bread is buttered, and will be for years if China grows without let. Ideologically, Labor prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating had an institutional understanding with Asia, China in particular, partly on account of the party's working-class roots. This should develop anew under Mr Rudd. It will be helped by the fact he is a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Better relations with China need not necessarily come at the expense of the United States relationship - which partly cost Mr Howard, an unabashed cheerleader for the US - but the new American president who takes over in a little over a year cannot take for granted Canberra's acquiescence in Pacific strategic issues. Australia's participation in an emergent American Pacific security web with India and Japan, projected no doubt as a watching brief on China, can no longer be assumed. Mr Rudd has already distanced himself from the US and Mr Howard over the Kyoto treaty on climate protections. He says he will ratify it and follow up by attending the Bali climate conference next month. The Kyoto decision will place Australia on the rational side of the environmental argument. He also intends to reduce the Australian military contingent in Iraq, although he can expect tough persuasion by the US in what the Americans view as a fundamental commitment. All told, America may need to rework its sums concerning Australia despite Mr Rudd saying the security alliance with the US was a linchpin policy.
Mr Rudd's intention to visit Indonesia as his first overseas call is customary for modern Australian leaders, and doubly welcome for the emphasis it places on long-standing South-east Asia ties. Singapore will be calculating anew whether a new government unburdened by baggage would be more receptive to a bid by Singapore Airlines to fly the Australia-US route. Labor is a party built on unions, but Mr Rudd is showing no signs of insularity.
