Australia’s History-Making Top Diplomat Faces Down Rising China
Penny Wong is the first openly LGBTQ person to hold the job and she faces an immediate policy crisis in the region.
Penny Wong has already made history as both the first Asian-born and openly gay woman to become Australia’s top diplomat. Now she’s quickly confronting the nation’s most difficult geopolitical challenge in decades.
Within days of being sworn in on May 23, Wong -- born to a Chinese Malaysian father -- rushed to Fiji to counter a rare trip to nearby Pacific island countries by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He aimed to sign a sweeping regional deal to entrench Beijing’s influence after reaching a security agreement with the Solomon Islands that may allow naval ships to dock some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Australia’s coast.