Australian party leaders clash on China in election debate

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister and his opposition rival have clashed heatedly over Australia’s tumultuous relationship with China in the first leaders’ debate ahead of elections on May 21. The opposition center-left Labor Party has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government of Australia’s biggest foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since World War II after China and the Solomon Islands announced this week they have signed a bilateral security pact. Morrison said on Wednesday that China is to blame for the new threat, not Australia, which is the Solomon Islands’ main security partner. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese described the pact as a “major foreign policy failure by Australia.”