Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Photo: IC

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that Australia's pursuit of national interests on the world stage has been wrongly interpreted as siding with the US over China, adding that his government will not make a "binary choice" between the two major powers.

Hopefully, Morrison will talk the talk, and walk the walk, and that he won't regard countries as fools.

During the past period, who has misunderstood the Australian government's actions? Has Western public opinion, including Australian public opinion, misunderstood Canberra too? Over the past few years, how many Western political analysts would believe Australia is trying to maintain its independent position in China-US conflicts, instead of turning to the US?

Australia has taken the lead in prohibiting Huawei from participating in the country's 5G network construction, as well as in accusing China of "infiltrating" Australia. It has also adopted radical policies in preventing Chinese companies from investing in more than 10 projects in Australia, in areas including infrastructure and agriculture. Australia has also harassed and searched Chinese journalists, and has canceled visas of some Chinese scholars. All these are similar to the US' suppression of China, and Australia tends to act faster and more ruthlessly.

Chinese people do not expect the Morrison administration to truly reflect on their policy of acting as the US' auxiliary police. However, we hope that they can learn the necessary lessons, adopt more realistic policies and revise their previous behavior toward China. No matter how sincere Morrison's latest statement is, hopefully that it can be reflected in Australia's actions. Only then can China-Australia relations be improved.

The author is editor-in-chief of the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn