Australia and China - A Balanced Approach

Ties between China and Australia have been on the outs since 2018, when Canberra banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei from building its 5G network. Things deteriorated further in 2020, when then Prime Minister Scott Morrison angered Beijing over his calls for an investigation into the origins of COVID in Wuhan. In retaliation, Beijing rolled out tariffs or unofficial bans on a wide range of Australian exports, including highly lucrative goods like wine, barley, lobsters, and coal. Both countries have launched separate disputes at the World Trade Organization, WTO, though China has continued to insist that its trade restrictions are in line with international rules. Meanwhile, Beijing relaxed some unofficial trade restrictions on key Australian imports like coal last