Australia’s tourism and education exports to China would appear most in the firing line.
So it proved, if not for the pandemic as much as politics. Wild speculation about the source of Covid-19 didn’t help, any more than Beijing’s brittle attitude to media criticism. China slapped tariffs on imports of Australian barley, beef and wine, banning seafood, timber and coal. “The moves follow a familiar playbook”, wrote Darren Lim and Victor Ferguson, “in which the Chinese government relies on technical regulatory measures to restrict exports, while denying any retaliation is taking place.”
It is possible to hold two views at once. Someone can advocate for trade with China and at the same time condemn China for its human rights abuses.