The War: Kangaroo vs Dragon

Hemang Surana

China and Australia, 2 of the biggest countries in terms of land area and both top 15 when it comes to economic might in the last 20 years. Despite Australia being in a security partnership with both the USA and the UK under AUKUS, it has maintained a positive relationship with China. Or it had maintained a positive relationship up till recently.

The US-China Trade War has been put to bed or at least replaced by the new and bewildering Australia-China Trade War. In terms of trade, these two countries have always been welcoming of each other's goods. In terms of immigration, according to the 2016 census, there were 509,555 Chinese-born people in Australia. Even in terms of raw economic or military power, Australia is not a direct rival with China. So, the question remains, why? Why are these two countries embroiled in a political and economic war that is having negative ripple effects on all their industries? Why now?

This may be explained with multiple reasons. In the current climate, most issues can be attributed to the pandemic. In this instance, there is no difference. To this date, the general consensus is that COVID-19 originated in China. Australia too has been highly critical of China, demanding for an investigation to be conducted on the origins of the virus. They wanted to know whether the virus was really a product of Mother Nature, or something more malicious. As expected, China did not take kindly to any of these demands and has rejected all allegations. Australia’s insistence on getting to the bottom of the matter well angered China, resulting in the imposition of sanctions by China on Australia. Australia’s coal industry has been extremely affected by these sanctions as China has been one of the largest importers of coal, which they require to fuel their economic growth. Throughout the last two years, Australia and China have gone back and forth at each other and it does not seem like it will stop anytime soon.

However, there might be a deeper reason for this sudden enmity. The creation of the Quad may contribute to the worsening of relations. The Quad is a partnership between the US, India, Japan and Australia to counter China’s power in the Asia Pacific region. It is a political and military partnership based on the premise of India developing into a regional superpower and the other 3 developed countries propping India up to act as a counterbalance to China. It is worth noting that this partnership, which is relatively new, has been extremely active. This has surely worried China and its imposition of sanctions on Australia may be her way of displaying her displeasure.

The issue of China and Australia is multi-faceted and has deep implications which has ripple effects on the rest of the global economy. The only thing we can do now is wait and see how the Kangaroo battles the Dragon.

References

Australian Government: Department of Home Affairs. “Community Information Summary Historical Background 2016 Census China-Born,” 2018. https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis-china.PDF. (Accessed March 20, 2022).

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The Straits Times. “Checking China: What Is the Quad Alliance?,” 2022. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/checking-china-what-is-the-quad-alliance. (Accessed March 20, 2022).

Tan, Weizhen. “China Restricted Imports from Australia. Now Australia Is Selling Elsewhere.” CNBC, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/03/australia-finds-new-markets-for-coal-barley-amid-china-trade-fight.html. (Accessed March 20, 2022).

Walsh, Michael. “If You Didn’t Have Time to Follow How China-Australia Hit a New Low, This Is What You Need to Know.” www.abc.net.au, 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-03/heres-what-happened-between-china-and-australia-in-2020/13019242. (Accessed March 20, 2022).

Wintour, Patrick. “What Is the Aukus Alliance and What Are Its Implications?” The Guardian, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/16/what-is-the-aukus-alliance-and-what-are-its-implications. (Accessed March 20, 2022).

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