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The new Australian government got off to a rocky start in its relations with China. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop drew China's ire just 16 days after the new coalition government headed by Tony Abbott was sworn in on September 18, 2013. In a joint statement following a Trilateral Strategic Dialogue with the foreign ministers of the United States and Japan, Bishop “opposed any coercive or unilateral actions that could change the status quo in the East China Sea.”1 Considering that Japan is one of the parties engaged in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea, and more importantly, the definition of the status quo is precisely what China and Japan are at loggerheads over, no one should be surprised that the statement's wording upset Beijing. From Beijing's perspective, Canberra and Washington were taking Japan's side in the sovereignty dispute, a vital concern for China. Its foreign ministry was swift to respond, telling the three countries to stop undermining regional stability.2

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