Advertisement
China-Australia relations
EconomyChina Economy

China-Australia relations: suspended talks ‘unfortunate’ tit-for-tat retaliation but Canberra can ‘consider itself lucky’

  • China ‘indefinitely suspended’ the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue on Thursday amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Canberra
  • Former Australian trade minister Andrew Robb said it would now be difficult to resolves differences without face-to-face talks

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
99+
Former Australian trade minister Andrew Robb took part in the inaugural China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue in 2014. Photo: AFP
Su-Lin Tan

China’s move to suspend high-level trade dialogue with Canberra will formalise the breakdown in communications between the two governments already locked in a year-long conflict and could set back any hope of reconciliation, former Australian trade minister Andrew Robb said.

On Thursday, China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) “indefinitely suspended” the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue and all activities under the initiative citing ongoing “cold war” rhetoric from Australian politicians and the “current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth Government toward China-Australia cooperation”.
The move is viewed as Beijing’s retaliation for Canberra tearing up Victoria state’s non-binding Belt and Road Initiative Memorandum of Agreement with China last month, and while it will bear little impact on actual trade, it will whittle down the relationship further, according to James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
Direct face-to-face communication is fundamental to beginning the rebuilding of our political relationship
Andrew Robb

“This very high-level meeting cancellation is most unfortunate,” Robb, who took part in the inaugural China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue in 2014, told the South China Morning Post.

“It is more and more difficult to resolve our differences if we don’t have face-to-face discussions. Direct face-to-face communication is fundamental to beginning the rebuilding of our political relationship.”

The NDRC referred to recent measures by Australian politicians “to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of cold war mindset and ideological discrimination” as reasons for the move.

The China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue is one of many bilateral meetings used to strengthen relations between the two countries, with the last meeting held in 2017.

Advertisement