Wikileaks Document Spills Beans on Rudd's View of China

A U.S. diplomatic cable from March 2009 made public by Wikileaks has revealed details of a meeting between Australia's former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

It took place at a White House luncheon where Rudd and Clinton exchanged views on China’s political power and its influence on both nations.

The document revealed Rudd saying he’s a "brutal realist" when it comes to China.

He also said Chinese leaders are "paranoid" about Taiwan and Tibet and are using a hard-line approach to Tibet to set an example for other ethnic minorities.

The leaked cable also revealed Rudd's vision to integrate China into the international community, while preparing to deploy force against China if things go wrong.

In a recent press conference, though Rudd didn’t deny the leaks, he said world diplomacy should be confidential.

[Kevin Rudd, Australian Foreign Minister]:
"Consistent of what the government has said up until now and into the future, we won't be commenting on either the content or the accuracy of any of these unauthorized releases of classified information, and the reason for that is one of principal and that is that the whole business of diplomacy and the confidentiality of diplomatic communications and diplomatic documents is supposed to be maintained as such."

NTD News, Melbourne, Australia.