Back in Sydney to mark the 10-year anniversary since he was elected, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is now a PhD candidate of Harvard University, held a special book-signing and photo-opp event at a Chinese restaurant in Chatswood, Sydney, to promote his new book 'Not for the Faint-hearted,' speaking Mandarin fluently throughout.
In the brick-like thick book, Rudd tells the story of his childhood growing up in a Queensland country town, the highs and lows of his political career and key issues he dealt with during his tenure as Prime Minister. He also gaining interest in Chinese language, .
If he was to describe his contribution as leader objectively, Rudd said it would be "good and bad."
He also firmly dismissed the possibility of returning to politics, saying that Australian politics is "too messy."
Recently there has been much intense discussion in the Australian press about China's influence on Australian politics. The Chinese-language press meanwhile has identified an "anti-China" wave in Australia.
Speaking on this subject, Rudd highly praised the contribution of Chinese-Australians to Australia's multicultural society over the past 100 years and said "it is normal for countries to hold different opinions" - citing his public opposition to US allies' Iraq policy when he was in the office.
The former Labor PM avoided the question of whether being labelled as "Anti-China" means that Chinese voters should ditch the Coalition and turn their votes to Labor, but suggested Chinese voters follow "three principles when choosing and voting for their party and candidate."
Those being: "against racial discrimination, upholding multiculturalism, all communities equally participate in politics."
Now that he is out of politics, Rudd told SBS Mandarin that he was happy to eventually have the time to do things he enjoys, such as research on Chinese President Xi Jinping's interpretation of "new types of relations amongst Super Countries" and Xi's "One Belt One Road" ambition.
He said that his interpretation of Xi's world view will probably be covered in his next book.
SBS Mandarin understands that people who wanted to attend the book-signing were told to first register their interest in a pre-established chat group hosted on Chinese social media platform WeChat and to bring a copy of Rudd's new book or buy it on-site, where it was sold at a discounted price.
