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Australia & China: Disengagement or Decoupling?

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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    They only need iron ore when they are growing.
    That doesn't make sense. Unless production slows to zero they will still need iron ore, and a lot of it.

  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Coolboy:
    Have to agree. Australia is one of the most dependent Western economy on China. Australia in the past has managed to ride on the coat tails of the booming Chinese economy and its insaitable appeite for minerals that Australia has such an abundance of. Now however, Australia is realizing the drawbacks of putting all their eggs on one basket.

    Now the question is, does Australia really have no cards to play? Iron ore being the sole trump card is a pretty weak hand...
    What the sweet f are you talking about? Something like only 5% of Australia's GDP comes form all mining activity.

    The bulk of Australia's income comes from services...

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Chips:
    What the sweet f are you talking about? Something like only 5% of Australia's GDP comes form all mining activity.

    The bulk of Australia's income comes from services...
    Forgotten to take your meds again, have you?

    We are talking about Australian exports to China. Iron, gas and coal make up the majority of Australian exports to that country. The only really big service export is education. And both are vulnerable to China's tariff and sanctions. Lets see how Australian universities do without tuition from Chinese students. Next time, at least try to comprehend what we are talking about for a change. Or take your meds.
    ReleaseZeKraken, shri and twelve98 like this.

  4. #24

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    A more detailed account of what happened in China, from Michael Smith:

    I was driven home in a consular van sporting black number plates that are supposed to provide some degree of diplomatic immunity if, for example, security officials wanted to haul me out of the car.

    It was like a scene from a spy movie as the van drove into the narrow laneway where I live and work. I was told to stay in the car for my safety while a diplomat raced inside to collect my bags, which were luckily packed the night before.

    While we were waiting with the engine running, a suspicious-looking man wearing a mask was walking up and down the lane pretending to be on his phone. He was clearly keeping an eye on us.

    My staff watched with shock and confusion. I waved at them from the back of the van as we drove off knowing this was probably the last time I would ever see them. What a farewell.
    Does sound like a combination of five-eyes-quad-trade issues leading to this..

    One theory is it was just another exercise designed to try to intimidate the Australian government at a time when it is standing up to Beijing. In the end, someone important enough was convinced the diplomatic fallout from not allowing us to leave the country was not worth it.
    https://www.afr.com/world/asia/insid...0200908-p55ti7

  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by twelve98:
    Having said that, IMO China hold all the cards in this. the Australian economy needs all the help it can get right now...
    LOL, so does China's

  6. #26

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    From RTHK:

    Australian intelligence agency staff searched the homes of Chinese journalists in June, questioning them for several hours and removing their computers and mobile phones, China's state news agency Xinhua reported late on Tuesday.

    The Xinhua report comes shortly after two Australian journalists returned home with the help of consular officials after the pair were visited at their homes in Beijing and Shanghai and later questioned by China's state security ministry.
    https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compone...8-20200909.htm

  7. #27

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    The June incident might be somehow related to this:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...onference.html


  8. #28

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    Kevin Rudd's opinion on the interesting China/Australia relationship that has now evolved. For those that don't know, Kevin Rudd's back story, he was the only western leader during his time as Australian PM that was/is fluent in Putonghua, he can speak, read and write Chinese. Which makes him a little more knowledgeable than your 'A typical' politician. I might be a bit biased of course, as my best friend that I have known since childhood went to Uni with Jessica Rudd at Griffith University, when he studied Law and Political Science.

    Last edited by Skyhook; 14-09-2020 at 08:48 AM.
    Coolboy and Elefant&Castle like this.

  9. #29

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    Although the relationship became problematic when Rudd was PM too, so its amusing to see him trying to portray himself as the oracle.


  10. #30

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    Australia has always punched below weight economically-speaking. It's gotten fat on digging resources out of the earth and harvesting things that grown on it that other countries want to buy. They need to produce more value-added products. Not sure they can do that with a population the size of large Chinese city.

    Coolboy and Paxbritannia like this.

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