Labor has blamed the federal government's dilly-dallying over whether to sign up to a China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank for Australia missing out on a vice-president position.
The federal government officially joined the $US100 billion ($A131.21 billion) bank in June last year along with 56 countries.
The US and Japan declined membership.
The decision to join was delayed because of some concerns within cabinet that China could use the bank to further its own strategic and political aims in the region.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek lamented the government's foot-dragging exercise had cost it a vice-president spot on the bank's board.
"We should have gotten in early - we could have had more influence in setting the rules," she told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Ms Plibersek insisted that Australia's economic and diplomatic relationship with China "binds us, but it does not blind us".
Australia's US alliance would always be an important part of Labor foreign policy, she said.
On the South China Sea territorial dispute, Ms Plibersek reiterated that it was in the national interest to defend freedom of navigation and uphold international laws.
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