12/21/2023 0 Comments Unravel reading strategyIn April, Paula Dobriansky argued in the Wall Street Journal that the United States and partners like Australia should ‘create an international economic order that is less dependent on China’, one in which trading ties ‘better align … with political and security relationships’.Ĭharles Edel followed up with an assessment that ‘our existing alliances now have the opportunity to move beyond the military realm and into the economic arena’.īut Australia’s circumstances are vastly different from those of the United States, with a domestic market of just 25 million people and a trade bundle that matches China’s. There have also been suggestions that Canberra would benefit from signing on to Washington’s own China decoupling agenda. On 2 May, Peter Jennings claimed that ‘a view is hardening that economic dependence on China is dangerous and steps must be taken to reduce that dependence’. In April, ASPI’s Director of Defence and Strategy Michael Shoebridge argued that ‘with COVID-19, the Chinese state has created unacceptable risks for the rest of us and it will continue to do so … until we reduce our dependence on activities within its jurisdiction’. Some commentators are now calling for the Australian government to force a decoupling of the Australian and Chinese economies. This was quickly followed up by trade restriction measures applied to Australian barley and beef exports to China. Rather than unequivocally stating that the Chinese government would continue to support trade ties even in the face of political disagreements, Chinese Ambassador to Canberra Cheng Jingye instead mused last month that consumers in China might come to view Australia as unfriendly and be less fond of its beef, wine, tourism and education. In 2016, the Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Peter Jennings warned that ‘if Beijing wants to adopt politically coercive policies, it’s in a fairly strong position to do so with us because of that level of trade dependence’.ĬOVID-19 has heightened sensitivities as news stories draw attention to examples of Chinese demand wavering and supply chains being disrupted.Ĭhina’s own actions have added more fuel to the fire. The value of Australia’s deep economic engagement with China has never been more contested. Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
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