There is growing concern that the milder rhetoric and diplomacy with which the Albanese government has approached China is in danger of lurching into silence and inaction. Australian reticence on Beijing’s breaches in the South China Sea and the decisions to call off the World Trade Organisation cases – enabling Beijing to escape international judgment on its coercive behaviour – were starting to suggest self-imposed censorship. The biggest determinant of AUKUS success is political will. Albanese should leave no doubt that he is committed. Australia cannot pick and choose the international rules it upholds, nor when to hold others to...