"China doesn’t respect weakness," Ms Bishop told Fairfax Media, marking a break from the policies of previous governments whose reticence, she said, had only caused confusion. Ms Bishop said the experience in November of speaking out against China’s unilateral declaration of an Air Defence Information Zone – which led to the Chinese foreign minister famously tearing strips off her in Beijing with cameras rolling – had fortified her view that it was better to be frank than misunderstood. Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe arrive to tour the Rio Tinto West Angelas iron ore mine. Credit:Reuters “This did affect our national interest because it meant that, for example, our national carrier Qantas suddenly had to inform Beijing even if it wasn’t flying anywhere near,” she said. “The freedom of the skies and freedom of the seas in that part of the world is important to us because that’s where the majority of our trade is done.

“So I believed that, at that time, we had to make it clear where we stood on unilateral action that could be seen as coercive and could be seen to – and which did – affect our national interests.” Those who said Australia had to choose between its security alliances and economic engagement with China had been proven “absolutely” wrong, she said, noting that there had been no economic fall-out from that forthright exchange. 'China doesn't respect weakness': Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. Credit:Ken Irwin Ms Bishop also made the clearest public statement yet of how the increasingly militarised disputes on China’s periphery were prompting Australia to deepen and broaden military ties with the United States and other nations, most notably Japan. Those trends have been on display this week with Prime Minister Tony Abbott agreeing to a “strategic” defence relationship and new military technology sharing agreements with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who leaves Australia on Wednesday.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg. “We know that the optimum is deeper engagement [with China],” said Ms Bishop. “But we’re also clear-eyed about what could go wrong. So you have to hope for the best but manage for the worst.” Successive Australian governments have been flummoxed about how to speak about China. Prime ministers and foreign ministers have mostly voiced concerns quietly, or not at all, in the hope that problems could be resolved behind closed doors. But Ms Bishop said her government had moved decisively and deliberately to match deeds with words.

“Foreign policy under the Coalition is designed to project and protect our reputation as an open market export-oriented economy,” she said. “And so all we do and say supports those values we have on the economic front, and our values as an open liberal democracy committed to rule of law, committed to freedoms and committed to international norms,” she said. “So, when something affects our national interest then we should make it very clear about where we stand.” The Abbott government has also been forthright in speaking out against the detention of an Australian artist, Guo Jian, who was released after being detained for making and talking about an installation commemorating the Tiananmen massacres. It has also spoken firmly against the arrest of a leading Chinese lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang.

And while many commentators, including in the United States itself, were beginning to debate the credibility of American power, Ms Bishop said she had no doubt that America would remain the pre-eminent force internationally. “This is a debate that the US will have to have about its role in the world,” she said. “It is currently the only super power with the military capability to act globally and the US must determine whether it’s going to continue in that role. I believe that it must, and it will.” Loading Ms Bishop drew attention to the warmth displayed between Mr Abe and Australian leaders this week, including in response to Mr Abe’s “very gracious, generous, positive and very personal” speech, delivered in English, despite Mr Abe not being confident speaking in a second language. Follow us on Twitter