China’s Top Economic Planner ‘Indefinitely Suspends’ High-Level Economic Dialogue With Australia

The decision is based "on the current attitude of the Australian government toward China-Australia cooperation"

A short statement by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue had been “indefinitely suspended”.

“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,” the statement said.

The decision is based “on the current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth government toward China-Australia cooperation”.

The China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue is part of a series of bilateral talks that facilitate more cooperation between the two countries, particularly in trade. The inaugural session was held in June 2014, the second in June 2015, with the last known meeting held in Beijing in September 2017.

Australia responded to China’s decision with Trade Minister Dan Tehan saying: “We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the ministerial level.”

Along with other diplomatic vehicles and pacts between the two countries such as the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the Strategic Economic Dialogue provided an opportunity for the two countries to engage in their trading relationship.

“This is unfortunate. We do need dialogue with China,” said Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese in Sydney. “It can’t be just on their terms, though. It’s got to be on both countries’ terms.”

According to an NDRC statement in September 2017, “the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue is an important mechanism under the regular meetings of the prime ministers of China and Australia, and an important part of the various mechanisms for consolidating bilateral relations between the two countries”.

The statement added that the two sides would strengthen economic ties through strategic dialogue, focusing on economic development and investment.

Thursday’s announcement was made following Australia’s move last month to revoke Victoria state’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, after deeming its agreements with Beijing to be at odds with Canberra’s foreign policy.

Beijing previously said it would “respond firmly and forcefully” if Australia did not reverse the decision.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the move by Australia to cancel the belt and road deal showed that they are not genuine in wanting to improve relations.

In another move amid the escalating tensions, the Australian parliament called last month for the government to consider revoking a 99-year lease of Darwin Port to Landbridge Group.

Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton confirmed to The Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday that his department was looking into whether Landbridge should relinquish its lease under a set of critical infrastructure laws passed in 2018.

China and Australia have been locked in an escalating political conflict for more than a year.

It boiled over when Australia pushed for an international inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus without consulting Beijing in April 2020.

Ever since then, trade between the two countries had borne the brunt of the tensions, sparking calls for diversification and even “economic decoupling”.

Beijing has targeted a number of Australian exports including barley beef, wine, lobsters and coal.

In March, China placed anti-dumping duties of between 116.2 per cent and 218.4 per cent on Australian wines in containers of two litres or less after concluding its anti-dumping investigations.

It then imposed an 80.5 per cent tariff on Australia’s barley exports in May following the conclusion of an 18-month investigation.

Australia has taken its dispute over China’s anti-dumping duties imposed on its barley

to the World Trade Organization, but the issue could still take years to resolve after last month

Beijing blocked what it called a “premature” move to set up probe with the Geneva-based body.

Source: South China Morning Post

10 Comments
  1. Ultrafart the Brave says

    The entire Australian federal political class has sold their souls to Team America ® and its imperial dictates, the national interest and welfare of its citizens be damned.

    China has always had the moral high ground in this ongoing dispute with Australia. Every Chinese action has been a carefully measured and entirely appropriate response to incessant unilateral provocations against it by the Australian Federal Government.

    Statements by Australian ministers like Trade Minister Dan Tehan saying “We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the ministerial level”, even as they scheme up their next outrage against China, are at a level of cynical hypocrisy worthy of that nasty little Nazi state of Israel.

    It won’t even do the Australian “democracy” any good by voting out the current crop of imbeciles from the Federal Government, because the opposition party fully supports the sabotage of Australia’s relations with China in a truly remarkable bipartisan act of national suicide.

    Unless a miracle happens and every single one of these treasonous parasites infesting the corridors of Australian government drop dead, Australia is kaput. Watch now as with each new Australian escalation and China’s measured response, these Australian morons do the only thing they know how to do, which is double down, and double down, and double down again.

    1. Oilman says

      Make no mistake…England is behind this mess. No moves of this size are done without the monarchy’s approval.

      The prime minister’s oath of allegiance is to Queen Elizabeth and heirs and successors.

      1. Helga Weber says

        I think so too.

    2. Ronnie says

      Excellent summary. This is why God lets us grow old and die.

      Over 20 million sheep in Australia always voting for the same farmer and same live export mob.

  2. Mark says

    “This is unfortunate. We do need dialogue with China,” said Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese in Sydney. “It can’t be just on their terms, though. It’s got to be on both countries’ terms.”

    Oh; is that how it works in Australia’s relations with the United States? Uncle Sam says, “I need you to do this for me”, and the talking kangaroo says “Gee, I don’t know – first I’d like to be comfortable that it would be morally responsible. You know, it can’t all be just on your terms.”? Ha, ha, ha; as if. There actually is a middle ground there, although it might not be obvious at first – Australia wants to be able to enjoy a profitable economic and trade relationship with China, and it wants to point and snicker from the sidelines and insult the Chinese government, on command from Uncle Sam, at the same time, bolstering its moral tough-guy image in the process. China wants a prosperous economic and trade relationship with Australia, and does not want to be publicly insulted by Australia every time Uncle Sam pokes it and says “Say it”.

    Where’s the middle ground there? Simple – only criticize publicly what you can prove, and supply your proof coincident with the accusation. Like the ‘Uighur internment camps’ – all of the west’s ‘evidence’ on this issue comes straight from activists who have a vested interest in big countries coming in on their side to help them, just as if the west learned absolutely nothing from getting its ‘intelligence’ in Syria from al Qaeda.

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/12/uighurs-forced-to-eat-pork-horror-stories-told-by-chinese-defector-seem-to-evolve.html

    The USA prods Australia to talk smack to China, and the fools do it as if they had nothing to lose, just as the Canadians arrested Meng Wanzhou on America’s orders, and received trade sanctions in return.

    There is a lot of commonality between Chinese and Russian foreign policy these days, if you look for it, and it might be summed up as ‘no more Mr. Nice Guy’. Both tried the approach of absorbing political and economic punishment for things they claimed to have nothing to do with, without leveraging consequences. And that plainly did not work. All right, then; gloves off. America will continue to maneuver and strike through its proxies for as long as they will put up with it, but both Russia and China have made it clear that there will be a cost. You might want to weigh that against what you’re getting from the Americans for doing what you’re told. For example.

    https://www.enr.com/articles/51733-michigan-gov-threatens-to-seize-line-5-pipeline-profits-from-enbridge-as-tunnel-gets-first-permits

  3. yuri says

    Australia is a US colony; it should be a CHINESE colony

    1. XSFRGR says

      Australia doesn’t need to be a colony, but Australia does need to be on the winning side. The U$ is a dying empire; not the winning side.

  4. ken says

    Australian politicians/police/military have head up ass disease. They have destroyed the economy,,, locked down most everyone,,, and now have pissed off a major trading partner. All at the behest of the current US fascist regime.

    25 million Aussies are going to have to decide,,, their freedom and economy and lives or their new budding fascist government.

  5. Ronnie says

    Stop Press.

    Large Aussie lady dressed in bed sheets just announced Prime Minister Orange nosed wombat has just pulled his head out of Joes diapers.
    “Willing to Talk to China….Befriends again..”
    Americas Blinking Clown stands by making desperate sucking noises to Aussies…. keeps talking tough. The bar room has emptied already only the cleaners moping the floor left in the room.

    The silly game continues. Gotta be some kind of matrix. This shit is not normal !

  6. XSFRGR says

    It seems strange that Australia would wager its future on the support of a corpse, but that’s what they’ve done by placing their faith in Uncle Sam. Oh well, stupid is as stupid does.

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