China-Australia Relations in Ruins

A relationship between a supernatural creature as ambitious, fierce, and passionate as the dragon and a kangaroo, the emblem of strength, agility, and protection cannot always be a joy to behold. Symbolism aside, the powerful nations, namely China and Australia, have always shared rocky diplomatic relations, one with as many friendly gestures as vexed backlashes. Diplomacy is riveting from strong cultural and educational connections with controversial initiatives to economic and political back and forth. 

The cultural connection goes back to the 19th century when Australia as a European settlement was developing economically. The Chinese immigrants provided cheap labor in the gold rush period before the government, fearing dependency on non-whites, banned them. The fear of the migration of ‘dark’ people from South Asia grew to a point that the government put into place the White Australia Policy to keep non-whites out. Only more than a century later were Asian immigrants accepted and respected as a part of Australia’s new policy of ‘multiculturalism’. This move came after decades of agitation by Chinese officials for relaxation of rules against the Chinese. While immigrant laborers were in peril, the link was maintained by the Australian and Chinese students traveling to either country for higher education. Even today, the youth of both countries is connected through educational and professional initiatives.

However, Australia’s relations with the People’s Republic of China did not start on the best foot. Australia and the Republic of China sent mutual representations as ambassadors before the People’s Republic of China was set up in 1949. Australia stopped sending ambassadors to the ROC but maintained unofficial relations with Taiwan and did not recognize the PRC until 1972. A year later, the Australian embassy and consulates were set up in PRC, and ever since Australia has maintained the policy of ‘One China, not recognizing Taiwan as a country.

The trade between the two countries was present well before Liang Lan-hsun, the first Consulate General to Australia, established official political relations between the two countries and worked on improving large-scale bilateral trade. It was only after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in China that the trade share between the two nations rose from single-digit percentages to a level that prevented Australia from falling into the abyss of the global financial crisis of 2008-09 like other developed countries in the West. 

In 2014, the Australian and Chinese heads of state collectively called their strong economic relationship a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’. In 2015, the China Australia Free Trade Agreement or ChAFTA was signed with which China provided Australia economic benefits concerning the position in their domestic market. Another aspect of their bilateral trade is the growing Chinese investment in Australia. As of 2019, China is the 6th largest foreign direct investor in Australia. 

Over the years though, this has made Australia the most China-dependent western nation. With the rising share of China in the total trade of Australia, the country’s vulnerability to the Asian giant has increased exponentially. Compared to Australia’s shrinking one, China’s rising economy puts the latter in a further delicate position when dealing with China. 

However, the ties started worsening from 2018, the initially gradual deterioration catching up speed in the last year. Australia banned the Chinese company Huawei from taking up the 5G network in the country and tried to persuade the Five Eyes nations of Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America to do the same. This event enraged China before the termination of the take-over deal of Lion Dairy and Drinks by Chinese Mengniu Dairy further riled it up in 2020. 

On the diplomatic front, Australia’s questioning of China’s status as a developing country in the WTO and PM Scott Morrison volunteering for an independent investigation into China’s role in the origins of the coronavirus pandemic led to a furious response from the Asian economy. China placed into place various trade barriers on Australian trade accompanied by a huge drop in Chinese FDI in Australia, a precarious move for both the western economy and their bilateral relation built upon the fundamentals of economic partnership. The detention of Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist, in Beijing over suspicions of criminal activities against China’s security led to another diplomatic fight. After days of tension, the journalist, alongside the other two, was allowed to fly back to their home country. 

Australian media also has played a huge role in the growing hostility towards China in Australia. For some time now, the media in the country has started painting China, its ever-growing economic investment and influence in the country in a negative light. It also leaked China’s 14 points of grievances with Australia.

In the middle of all this, Australia also rejected the basis for China’s claims in the South China Sea and criticized China for human rights violations and cyber-attacks. The situation was further aggravated by a spat over a ‘repugnant’ fake image posted by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson which shows an Australian soldier holding a knife to an Afghan boy’s neck received severe backlash as PM Morrison demanded an apology. In 2021, Australia’s new legislation that came into place at the end of 2020 and allowed the federal government to terminate deals of the state governments with foreign entities were put into practice to cancel the deal between the Belt and Road Initiative the Victoria state government. China has slammed this move and has called it economic coercion while the Australian government told the international community that it ‘won’t be bullied’. 

As is evident, the amiability of the relations between China and Australia is hurtling down at a furious speed as a result of a culmination of events over the past couple of years, some of which, experts believed were not as beneficial to either nation individually as the leaders put it to be. It’s time the leaders from both nations work to improve their relations through grand gestures of cooperation before it’s too late to even regret past actions and policies.