A major investigation finds the essential supplies most at risk are personal protective equipment and chemicals. Onshore manufacturing mightn’t do much to help.
SOURCE / ECONOMY By Global Times Published: Mar 03, 2021 11:53 AM
A man runs in a park opposite the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 26, 2021. Restrictions in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) will further ease from Friday as vaccination rolled out and no local case status continued. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)Australia posted better-than-expected fourth quarter GDP at 3.1 percent, in part due to its booming iron ore trade with China, Chinese analysts said.
The country s GDP grew by 3.1 percent for the quarter ending December on a quarter-on-quarter basis, while the economy contracted 1.1 percent on the year.
Still, the fourth quarter performance beat consensus forecasts for a 2.5 percent increase.
Has Australia s prickly relationship with China become the new normal ?
FriFriday 19
updated
SatSaturday 20
FebFebruary 2021 at 1:55am
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Watch
(Bill Birtles)
Print text only
Cancel
A normalising of exports to our biggest trading partner is unlikely to resume if the stalemate continues.
Two experts, Natasha Kassem from the Lowy Institute and Professor James Laurenceson from the UTS Australia-China Relations Institute, talk us through the dilemma.
Posted 19
The new trade minister, Dan Tehan, has been handed one of the Morrison government’s most demanding roles. Despite a lot of chest-thumping in government circles about the need to stand up to “Chinese bullying”, Tehan’s task will be to find a way to restore a constructive trading partnership with China in the national interest.
Beijing’s trade reprisals for perceived political slights should not be countenanced. However, there is no useful purpose in overreacting to China’s bad behaviour.
The business community, which has been alarmed by a deterioration in the China relationship, will watch Tehan carefully as he outlines his ideas for engagement.