Australian minister urges businesses to adopt 'China plus' strategy, experts say ignorant and crazy

release time:2021/9/8

In a speech at an event on Wednesday, Australian Treasurer Fredenberg urged Australian businesses to prepare for continued tensions with China by adopting what he called a "China plus" strategy to diversify international markets and reduce dependence on China. He also said Australia's economy was remarkably resilient and that the impact of China's "economic duress" on the economy as a whole had been "relatively mild", "perhaps to the surprise of many". The speech was interpreted by the media as a sign that the Australian government would "up its game against China". An opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday warned against Fredenberg's "big talk" : "An Australia less dependent on China also risks becoming less prosperous." "It is easy to call for economic diversification, but in practice it is difficult and sometimes impossible," Sputnik said, citing an interview with Russian experts. "It is easier for Australia to remove political obstacles to trade with China than to diversify its economy."

Fredenberg delivered a keynote speech at the Australian National University's Crawford Leadership Forum on Saturday. There had been a fundamental change in the world, he said: "The return of strategic competition" and "in many ways Australia is at the forefront of that strategic competition". He added that global economic weight had shifted significantly in recent decades, "defined by the re-emergence of China and its rapidly growing economic weight". "China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty and contributed significantly to global economic growth and prosperity. But recently, it has also been defined by another function: a more assertive and assertive China." He said China is now the largest trading partner of nearly 130 countries. "This combination of economic weight, global integration and self-confidence has created significant new challenges for many countries around the world. Australia is no exception. "" In fact, Australia is under more pressure than most other countries." In Canberra's strongest comments on the nearly year-long dispute, Mr Fredenberg accused China of trying to exert "political pressure" on Australia through its actions, CNN said.

The treasurer is supposed to be Australia's chief economic steward, but Mr Freydenberg's speaking style is seen as akin to that of domestic "security hawks". Fredenberg said China is Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for more than 30 percent of Australia's foreign trade, the Financial Review reported Friday. "However, it is no secret that China has recently tried to target the Australian economy," he said, citing restrictions imposed over the past year on Australian exports to China of some products, including wine, seafood, barley and coal, but "we are steadfast in defending our sovereignty and core values".

On that basis, Mr Fredenberg announced what he called plans to deal with China's "economic coercion" in a "new era of strategic competition". Australia's trade figures for the second quarter, released last week, gave him bragging rights. Exports to China fell 5.4 billion Australian dollars in the three months to June, partly offset by a 4.4 billion Australian dollar increase in exports to other markets. "Our economy has proved remarkably resilient," says Mr Fredenberg. Fredenberg warned Australian companies benefiting from booming trade with China to consider back-up plans and urged them to adopt a "China plus" strategy to shift exports to other major trading partners such as the United States and Japan, the Australian newspaper said.

Fredenberg's speech was the "most direct" by an Australian official on China policy in recent times, news.com.au said On Saturday. For eph lyden berg desalination trade in adverse situation, the opposition Labour mp and the shadow to the state Treasury secretary check Morse said in an interview with 9 news, Australia last week came second quarter GDP growth fell to 0.7% this year, "this is the current outbreak in Sydney and Melbourne" blockade "in front of the data, the situation would be even worse." Weak exports, particularly a sharp drop in exports to China, have been cited as the main reason for Australia's deteriorating economic situation. Apart from the impact of COVID-19, another risk comes from the recent slump in iron ore prices. After a year of soaring prices, the price of iron ore, Australia's biggest export to China, has fallen about 40 per cent from its peak in May.

Nor is it the first time Australian officials have touted "economic resilience". Some of the resilience of Australia's economy after being punished by China has some claiming victory, Bloomberg reported recently. "But that may be premature." "The Australian economy will soon see the tail wind of trade fade away," he said.

Australia has enjoyed decades of economic prosperity since the 1980s thanks to free trade, globalization and the rise of China, the Financial Review said in a commentary Monday. It was Iron ore imports from China that propped up Australia's economy during both the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. "An Australia less dependent on China also risks becoming less prosperous," the article warned of the content of Mr Fredenberg's speech. "Forced trade diversification will result in some unavoidable costs and a shrinking of China's dividend."

"It will be very difficult to change Australia's trade flows," Sputnik news agency quoted Mikhail Berleyev, an expert at Russia's Institute for Strategic Studies, as saying in an interview on Thursday. Australia is an economically developed country, but in today's international competition, it is extremely difficult to promote some new industries and find and occupy new market segments." "Especially in the post-pandemic era, when the momentum of the world economy is weak, this will not be possible for at least five years," he said. He warned that the world now increasingly sees China as the locomotive of the global economy. Faced with this situation, the important thing is not to find an alternative to the Chinese market, but to find a way to gain a foothold in it.

"This is a declaration of war on decoupling." 'Mr. Frydenberg's speech made a serious misjudgment of current international reality and australia-China relations,' the report said, citing a written interview with Chen Hong, president of the China Australia Studies Council and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University. 'Rational means were not heard in his remarks.' His views are clearly at odds with the interests of Australian business. "At present, there is little appetite for a return to rationality in Australia's China policy, so let it pay the price of ignorance and madness."

Copyright Taishan Chuanggu Group All Rights Reserved

Tel: +86-538-5073088

Email: taishanchuanggu@163.com


Address: Tai’an city, Shandong province,China, 271000.

+86-538-5073088
taishanchuanggu@163.com