SMILE OF VICTORY: Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard smiles with new Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan in Canberra on June 24. Gillard became the country's first female prime minister after Kevin Rudd stepped down (XINHUA/AFP)

Gillard's action

Born in Wales, the UK, Gillard moved to Australia with her parents for its warmer climate after she contracted a severe lung infection at five.

Gillard is unmarried, with good communication skills, excellent personal capabilities, superb political nous and a solid trade union background.

Rudd and Gillard together defeated Labor's former leader Kim Beazley, and she helped Rudd win the 2007 election.

Rudd thought highly of her abilities and said she would be prime minister one day. But he did not expect the day to come so soon.

Gillard faces many challenges. First of all, disputes within the Labor Party have been exposed. Leaders of various factions in the party, with help from external power brokers, in collusion stripped Rudd of his position as party leader. This caused strong resentment among ordinary members.

In addition, Gillard is not a prime minister elected by popular vote as was Rudd, so her appeal was inevitably affected.

As a core member of the Rudd administration, Gillard could not evade responsibility for various policy failures. The opposition will use this point to attack her before she establishes herself.

A key challenge for Gillard is there is not much time for her to adjust policy. If she does not succeed, the support rate she enjoys during her honeymoon period will shrink.

Domestic problems caused Rudd's downfall. Therefore, Gillard's priority after taking power is to deal with the problems left behind by Rudd.

Although the leader has changed, the Labor Party's administrative programs won't. So Gillard will not have much room to maneuver. What she could probably do is to adjust strategy and build consensus in a more moderate way to achieve policy goals.

In terms of the RSPT, Gillard quickly changed strategy. She withdrew a government advertising campaign and resorted to negotiation, striving for compromise with mining companies.

Large mining companies such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata also expressed willingness to negotiate with the government. On July 5, the two sides reached an agreement.

On climate change, she promised to promote emissions reduction after winning an election, and said she would discuss emissions charges at home and abroad.

But she also set a condition for this. She said she would only do that when the global economy improves and the Australian economy strengthens.

Her diplomatic policy will remain stable. The Labor Party's foreign policies include maintaining a traditional alliance with the United States, strengthening integration with East Asia, and intensifying multilateral diplomatic activities to enhance Australia's international influence.

In this election year, the Gillard administration will focus on the domestic problems that led to the slump in Labor Party support. The framework of its foreign policies will not change. Gillard will continue with Stephen Smith as minister for foreign affairs.

Her actions after becoming prime minister have provided evidence to back up her policy continuance. She said, in a call with U.S. President Barack Obama, she attached great importance to Australia's traditional alliance with the United States. Australia would fight alongside the United States in Afghanistan, and would not withdraw its troops.

And Foreign Minister Smith said he would continue to seek support for Australia's becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2013-14.

Undeniably, after the change of the leader, the Australian Government's focus will be different. For instance, Rudd strongly advocated the establishment of an Asia-Pacific Community. With his stepping down, Australia's efforts in this area will inevitably slow down.

Australian policy on China will not change a great deal. The two countries' win-win relations featuring mutual benefits and full cooperation will continue.

The change of Australian prime minister attracted the attention of many in China mainly because of Kevin Rudd, who has a good command of Mandarin.

Another reason is Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Australia in June, and met with various political leaders.

Strengthening relations with East Asia—including China—is an established foreign policy of the Labor Party. As a consensus of the Australian Government and public, the policy will not be changed.

As Zhang Junsai, China's Ambassador to Australia said, China-Australia bilateral relations are developing in multiple areas and in comprehensive ways, with a solid public foundation and beyond bilateral scope. This is reinforced by an economically symbiotic relationship between the two countries.

Although Gillard does not know China as Rudd did, as a government leader, she must understand the complementary nature of the two countries' economic relations. As a policymaker, she must know economic and trade cooperation with China helps strengthen Australia's ability to overcome the global financial crisis.

The author is an assistant research fellow with the China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation