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Australia’s relationship with the superpowersAustralia’s relationship with the superpowers
About the author
Natasha Kassam
Natasha Kassam was Director of the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program from 2019 to 2022, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations.
Past Lowy Institute polling shows Australians have become increasingly wary of military engagement in some parts of the world, and support for deploying military forces has been consistently low for hypothetical scenarios involving China. When asked about a military conflict between China and the United States, more than half the population (57%) say ‘Australia should remain neutral’. Four in ten Australians (41%) say ‘Australia should support the United States’ and 1% say ‘Australia should support China’. There is a stark divide between the youngest and oldest Australians on this question: only one in five (21%) Australians aged 18–29 say Australia should support the United States in the case of conflict, a view held by the majority (58%) of Australians aged over 60.
As well as a preference to remain neutral in the case of a conflict in the region, seven in ten Australians (72%) say it is possible for Australia to have good relations with the United States and China at the same time. This is a smaller number than in 2013 however, when 87% of the population thought Australia could maintain good relations with both powers at the same time.
