Kevin Rudd, a controversial energy ball as ambassador to US, quits early

Kevin Rudd’s premature departure in March from his post of Australia’s ambassador to the United States is a surprise, but perhaps not as unexpected as it might initially appear.

Rudd’s term had another year to run. Any extension would have been limited. His old job as president of Asia Society had opened up, giving him the opportunity to re-devote his main attention to China. He will head the society’s Center for China Analysis.

Rudd said in his statement he’d always believed “the future of US-China relations […] to be the core question for the future stability of our region and the world”. Last year he published a book titled How Xi’s Marxist Nationalism is Shaping China and the World.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday described Rudd as “regarded as perhaps the world’s most eminent and sought after expert on China and China-US relations”.

There is no reason to disbelieve Albanese when he says Rudd’s decision to leave early was his own. Rudd and the Albanese government had ridden out the worst of the bumps his past mouthings-off had caused in relations with the Trump administration.

Though they continued to have the capacity to embarrass. Who can forget Donald Trump’s reaction when his attention was drawn to Rudd during Albanese’s October meeting with the president? “You said bad?” Trump asked Rudd. “I don’t like you either, and I probably never will.”

Rudd in his pre-ambassadorial days had famously denounced Trump, including calling him the “most destructive president in history”. There were plenty of quotes on the record. Being Rudd, his language had often been extravagant and offensive, and the observations didn’t go unnoticed by some around the president.

But the negatives for Australia of Rudd’s controversial past utterances were at least neutralised, and arguably outshone by the positives he brought to the role of Australia’s representative in Washington, notably his expertise and his energy.

If the Mandarin-speaking Rudd could not be surpassed for knowledge about China, certainly no one could match his hyperactivity and persistence. His energy is prodigious; his determination to cover every base, to make his case relentlessly, could on occasion drive his peers and betters in Canberra to distraction.

No doubt it had the the same effect in Washington, but it did get results. Rudd knew everybody, and many senior administration figures were willing to go to the Australian residence to meet visiting ministers and officials.

Rudd arrived in Washington when Joe Biden was still in office, so the Albanese government had a fraternal administration that shared many policy views. But then Labor had to feel its way with Trump, who was much emboldened in this second term and had many difficult people around him.

At the same time, the challenges were big in terms of Australia’s interests: the US review of AUKUS, dealing with Trump’s tariffs, negotiation of a critical minerals agreement. Securing the first bilateral between Albanese and Trump proved ridiculously complicated and fraught. Rudd was at the centre of the government’s handling of these issues, and also highly active in furthering investment relationships. On another front, he helped secure Julian Assange’s repatriation. .

Rudd’s departure might remove what was at times was an irritant for the relationship with the Trump administration but the qualifications and qualities he has brought to the role set a high benchmark for his successor, yet to be announced.

Rudd says he will remain in America working between New York and Washington. Of course we won’t have heard the last of his voice. He says, “As a ‘think and do’ tank, Asia Society’s formidable Center for China Analysis will be an important platform”. Hopefully, however, he has learned something of the hazards of social media platforms.