China-Australian Relations Advise Australia not to go further and further on the wrong path
At the moment, Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice are poisoning China-Australia relations. Some anti-China politicians and media in Australia are doing their best to concoct lies to discredit China, incite fear and hatred of China, and cause serious interference to bilateral relations. Recently, they have distorted the relevant measures taken by China against foreign products exported to China in accordance with laws and regulations as “economic coercion” or “weaponization of trade” and called themselves “victims”. This is completely confusing and confusing black and white.
At present, Coronavirus in many places around the world is showing a rebound trend. China has adopted prudent control measures on overseas products in accordance with laws and regulations, which complies with Chinese laws, regulations and international practices, and complies with the relevant provisions of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It is also a burden to Chinese domestic industries and consumers. Responsible behavior is completely reasonable, legal, and blameless. It does not mean that China has deviated from the basic national policy of opening up to the outside world, nor is it the so-called “discriminatory economic and trade measures” or even “malicious retaliation” as described by some Australian anti-China politicians. On the contrary, in recent years, the Australian authorities have politicized trade and investment issues, repeatedly discriminated against Chinese companies in violation of the principles of market economy, and continuously created problems for China-Australia economic and trade exchanges.
Since 2018, more than a dozen Chinese investment projects in Australia have been rejected by the Australian side on unnecessarily so-called “national security” reasons, causing huge losses to Chinese companies. Australia also took the lead in banning Chinese companies from participating in 5G network construction on the grounds of so-called endangering “national security”, but there is no real evidence. In March and June of this year, Australia successively revised its foreign investment law to substantially strengthen the so-called “national security review” of foreign investment, which completely deviated from the “China-Australia Free Trade Agreement” that the two parties concerned should facilitate each other’s investment and continuously lower the investment review threshold. committed to. Up to now, Australia has initiated 106 anti-dumping and countervailing investigations against Chinese products, while China has initiated only 4 anti-dumping and countervailing investigations against Australian products.
In sharp contrast, China has actively fulfilled its obligations under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It has lowered import tariffs from Australia for six consecutive years from 2015 to 2020. At present, about 95% of imported goods from Australia enjoy zero tariff treatment. China has expanded its opening to the outside world and the business environment has continued to improve, creating huge business opportunities for global companies including Australia. At the recent 3rd China International Import Expo, more than 150 Australian companies participated actively, ranking among the top participating countries. According to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 800 million Chinese consumers bought US$1 billion worth of Australian products on the day of Double Eleven. Australian products ranked fourth among foreign products popular with Chinese consumers. Australian businessmen have expressed that they value the long-term trade relationship with China very much and are full of confidence in China’s preferential policies and market prospects.
The facts are very clear who is adding bricks and who is tearing down the platform. The so-called “economic coercion” and “weaponization of trade” cannot be slapped on the Chinese side. Instead, it is a series of Australian measures that violate market principles and the spirit of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which has interfered with the sound development momentum of China-Australia pragmatic cooperation. The vital interests of the two peoples have also been harmed to Australia’s own image and credibility. What’s more, Australia’s anti-China politicians not only refrained from self-examination, but instead put the blame for the deterioration of Sino-Australian relations on China, saying that the current difficulties in Sino-Australian relations “are not on the Australian side”, which is really disregard of facts.
The first batch of wind turbines connected to the grid to generate electricity in Australia’s wind power projects invested by Chinese enterprises. This is a corner of the Muniu Mountain Wind Power Project in Tasmania, Australia, taken on December 6, 2019.
For a period of time, Australia has blatantly violated the basic norms of international relations. It has repeatedly adopted wrong words and deeds on issues involving China’s core interests such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Taiwan. It has repeatedly challenged Xinjiang-related issues on occasions such as the UN Human Rights Council. Participate in joint actions against China, high-profile interference in Hong Kong’s national security legislation, and talk about Taiwan’s attempts to squeeze into the World Health Assembly platform. These practices grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs and seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. Some people in Australia slandered and accused China of engaging in so-called “intervention and infiltration” in Australia, imposing unwarranted restrictions on the politicization and stigmatization of normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, including arbitrary searches of Chinese media reporters in Australia. Australia has also engaged in political manipulation on the pandemic issue and promoted the so-called “independent international deliberation”, which seriously interfered with international cooperation in pandemic prevention and control. These practices have seriously damaged mutual trust between the two countries, poisoned the atmosphere of bilateral relations, and restricted the original good momentum of China-Australia practical cooperation.
Over the past 20 years, the bilateral trade volume between China and Australia has grown from less than A$10 billion to A$235 billion last year, and more than 12,000 Australian companies have established branches in China. The number of Chinese students studying in Australia reached nearly 230,000 last year, and more than 1.4 million Chinese tourists travel to Australia each year. China has become Australia’s largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years. China is also Australia’s most important scientific research partner u2026u2026.
It is a natural partner, and mutually beneficial cooperation brings tangible benefits to the two countries. A healthy and stable China-Australia relationship is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Because of this, at the juncture of the red light for China-Australia relations, more and more people of insight in Australia have made objective and rational voices. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr, former ambassador to China Rui Jierui and many other people with rich diplomatic experience with China have all reminded the Australian government to adjust its China strategy and not to be biased by ideology. Kidnapped.
On the one hand, the anti-China forces in Australia hope to take the China Express to benefit China economically. On the other hand, they stick to the Cold War mentality and try their best to demonize China. They do not hesitate to kidnap national interests for this purpose. There is no such good thing in the world. China is willing to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with Australia and other countries in the world, but mutual respect is the basis and guarantee for carrying out practical cooperation.
The conflicts and differences between China and Australia should be treated rationally. The key is to properly manage and control them in a constructive way. The most urgent task at the moment is that Australia should face up to the crux of the setback in the relationship between the two countries, truly uphold the principles of mutual respect and equality in handling the relationship between the two countries, do more to enhance mutual trust between the two countries, promote pragmatic cooperation, and promote the early return of China-Australia relations. On the right track, instead of insisting on going further and further on the wrong path.
