Overseas Network, December 1st. At the time of the trade dispute between China and Australia, Pauline Hanson (Pauline Hanson), former Australian senator and leader of the far-right party “One Nation Party”, openly clamored for “boycott of Chinese goods”, which attracted the attention of Australian public opinion. . In this regard, the Australian News Network published an article entitled “Why Australia’s Boycott of Chinese Goods Is Doomed to Fail” on December 1 and pointed out that this approach will cause catastrophic consequences for Australia.
The full text is excerpted as follows:
At a time when Australia-China relations are in tension, Hansen’s remarks on “boycotting Chinese goods” won the support of some public opinion, but this approach is doomed to fail and will also severely damage Australia’s own interests.
In terms of imports, China is Australia’s most important partner. From 2017 to 2018, Australia purchased 71.3 billion Australian dollars worth of goods and services from China, which is equivalent to 18% of Australia’s total imports. Some of the most common imported goods include telecommunications equipment and its parts, computers, furniture, mattresses, strollers, games and sporting goods, etc. This means that we do rely on China to provide what we need.
Two scholars, Rod Tyers, professor of economics at the University of Western Australia and Yixiao Zhou, senior lecturer of economics at the Australian National University, have published articles stating that the “full-scale trade war” with China will cost Australia’s GDP Of 6%.
The two scholars believe that if Australia-China relations (referring to economic and trade relations) are completely disintegrated and the two-way import and export ends, the loss of China’s exports to Australia will be catastrophic to Australia, but the impact on China will be like being stung by a mosquito. Take a bite. Although they did not specify the impact of the suspension of Chinese imports, both believe that in the end, Australia will be the biggest loser in the trade dispute with China.
Gary Mortimer, a consumer expert at Queensland University of Technology, also believes that the proportion of products made in China in almost every category in Australia means that “boycott” is almost impossible.
“People only need to wander in any Australian department store to understand the proportion of products imported from China.” Mortimer further pointed out, “Consumers are so dependent on Chinese-made goods that the voice of boycott will not Being ignored because it is so challenging to do so.” He also pointed out that if Australia stopped all imports from China, it would have a “destructive impact” on Australia’s GDP.
