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- On Thursday, Beijing “indefinitely” suspended all activity under a China–Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue
- Many analysts believe it was brought on by a recent decision by Canberra to scrap two agreements under the Belt and Road Initiative
- However, the suspension of the mechanism is unlikely to have any practical impact on Australia
- Jeffrey Wilson, from the Perth USAsia Centre, said it was an “act of pure symbolism” with “zero substantive effect”
- Relations were first frayed in 2018, when Australia publicly banned Huawei from its 5G network, and worsened last year when Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19
On Thursday, Beijing “indefinitely” suspended all activity under a China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue in the latest setback for already strained relations between the two countries.
“Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination,” China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
While it’s not known what specific measures prompted the action, many analysts believe it was brought on by a recent decision by Canberra to scrap two agreements under the Belt and Road Initiative.
China has been Australia’s most important trading partner for many years. That said, the suspension of the mechanism is unlikely to have any practical impact on Australia.
Jeffrey Wilson, from the Perth USAsia Centre, said it was an “act of pure symbolism” with “zero substantive effect.”
“China has placed sanctions against practically all major Australian exporters that it can, bilateral investment has collapsed, and intergovernmental discussions are non-existent,” he said.
“By going thermonuclear in 2020, China now has no substantive forms of leverage over Australia, and has to resort to largely meaningless acts of symbolism.”
Ties between the two countries were first frayed in 2018, when Australia became the first country to publicly ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G network.
Relations then worsened last year after Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
