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China is Australia’s “important trading partner” and will remain so in the face of headwinds from coronavirus lockdowns to supply chain disruptions, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
“It’s such a large economy. It’s almost unimaginable that this importance would decline significantly,” said Elizabeth Bowes of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Speaking at an Asia Society panel in Melbourne, she highlighted that Australia’s exports to China were higher than a year earlier, after two-way trade hit a record A$282 billion ($178 billion) in 2021.
Australia has been a rare beneficiary of Russia’s war with Ukraine. The invasion sparked a commodity crunch that sent coal and LNG prices soaring, providing a windfall to the resource-rich economy.
China is the only country in the world still pursuing a Covid-Zero strategy, and the lack of solutions to trade bans and tariffs on Australian goods has overshadowed the trend.
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Relations between the two countries hit rock bottom at the height of the pandemic in 2020, when Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 in China. Beijing responded quickly with punitive trade actions on Australian goods ranging from coal to barley, lobster and wine.
“These factors underscore the risk of market concentration and really underscore the importance of market diversity and Australian imports and exports of products and services,” Bowes said. “We’re looking at offering a new deal. It’s a very critical part of the government’s trade diversification agenda.”
Earlier this week, Australia announced a new green economy trade deal with Singapore targeting sustainable agriculture and green shipping corridors.
Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said on the same panel that this “could be a model for expanding the agreement in important environmental areas in the future.”
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