Canberra, December 9 Two Australian legislators said recently that Australia has always been a huge beneficiary of China’s economic growth and industrialization, and trying to de-exist from economic ties with China is “self-destruction”.
According to the Guardian Australia, Australian Labor Party MP Tim Watts said at an event organized by the country’s think tank “China Affairs” at the Capitol on the 8th that the idea of decoupling from China’s economy by some hawkish politicians in Australia is “an unprecedented state self-destruction”.
Australian Liberal Party MP Dave Sharma also said on the above occasion that the idea of complete decoupling is not feasible because “China has deeply integrated into the global economy, and Australia has always been a huge beneficiary of China’s economic growth and industrialization”.
In an article published by the think tank, Sharma said that Australia “don’t fall back to McCarthyism”. He said that Australia has the highest degree of integration and contact with China among Western countries.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner, the largest source of tourists and international students, and one of the largest sources of immigration. Australia should not adopt language or policies with economic containment to China.
At the same time, Andrew Robb, the former Australian Minister of Trade and Investment, also talked about the importance of handling relations with China for Australia in a column published in the Australian Financial Review on the 7th.
“Australian and China have seen trade increase by 15 to 20 percent annually since 2015,” he wrote. “Even during the pandemic, trade between the two countries has increased compared to last year.”
He believes that at present, many people mistakenly look at China with the old eyes of 20 or 30 years ago, but in fact, many aspects of China have changed greatly. China has become a big country and a major player in global trade. He suggested: “Now is the time to repair political relations [with China].”
