Former Prime Minister Paul Keating Credit:Eddie Jim The former prime minister characterised that approach as containment via the discredited doctrine of "quadrilateralism" and declared it "reckless on an international scale". Welcoming Ms Bishop's commitment to draft a new foreign policy for the changing region, Mr Keating said Australia's past failure to view China's rise as "completely legitimate" had led to reduced influence, and less leverage with Beijing over its strategic direction. He said Australian governments must recognise the character of China's rise rather than mistakenly viewing it in the same light as the former Soviet Union, which had been an exporter of Marxist-Leninist ideology, and a military super-power. Mr Keating said China was more accurately understood as a broadly self-reliant Asian powerhouse intent on meeting its own security needs while creating its own wealth. In time, its economy could grow to double the size of that of the US.

China's economy will grow to become far larger than that of the US. "China is fundamentally a lonely state and looks to Australia as a supplier of much of its raw materials and therefore its development," Mr Keating told Fairfax Media. "How much iron ore has it got to buy before we treat it with strategic regard?" Sir Angus Houston's stance was "reckless on an international scale", said Mr Keating. Credit:Andrew Meares Calling for a new "positive approach" which recognises the Middle Kingdom's colossal scale in economic and strategic terms, the former Labor leader said the white paper was "a valuable opportunity" for a fundamental rethink.

"If Australia were to have a positive strategic policy of engagement with China rather than a negative one, our influence on China's behaviour would be much greater than it is today." We don't want a dominant China any more more than we wish to contain it While Mr Keating has expressed strong views before, his comments articulate a more positive view of the Australian opportunities presented by an ascendant China. "The 'pivot' or 'stay-as-we-are' has meant the US is seeking to maintain strategic hegemony in the western Pacific, rather than recognising the rise of China as a legitimate event, and a state now as large as the US itself," he said. Mr Keating said the preponderance of Australian foreign policy was broadly with the US under the ANZUS umbrella. As the world has moved to a position of bipolarity with the US and China, Australia should similarly be developing a policy of cooperation with China, and not of "resigned reluctance", he said.

"We don't want a dominant China any more more than we wish to contain it," he said. "We want to bring China into the community of nations in the Asia Pacific." Mr Keating said anxiety over the artificial islands in the South China Sea was being exaggerated and they were no challenge to Australia. However, had Australia properly nourished its relations with Beijing, it would be better placed to prevail on Beijing to act in ways that created less regional tension, he said. The comments came as Ms Bishop revealed she was bringing home all Australia's diplomats in March for a three-day conference, aimed at drawing on their combined expertise to contribute to the white paper.

Last month, Sir Angus and Professor Medcalf jointly addressed the National Press Club on the subject of the Australia-US alliance. While the pair presented separate opinions, both defended the alliance as the bedrock of Australia's security architecture, and supported the idea of deepening defence and security integration with the India, and Japan as an effective reinforcement of Australia's regional position. However Mr Keating said that approach was wrong. "For Angus Houston and Rory Medcalf to be talking about quadrilateralism is reckless on an international scale, which they say does not represent containment of China. But of course, it does," he said. "The moral of this story is you don't let the soldiers run the policy – you let them operate it, you don't let them write it."

Sir Angus, who had urged caution and diplomacy regarding the South China Sea, last month said the post-war alliance was "the cornerstone of our defence policy ever since". "Over time we would lose capability if we weren't working so closely with the Americans," he said. "Intelligence, technology, logistics, we get great logistics support, and in areas such as cyber we need American support."