The Australian economic and trade community has high expectations for China

In recent times, China Australia relations have seen a rebound, which has also boosted confidence among many business professionals traveling between the two countries. Faced with the ups and downs of China Australia relations in recent years, Peter Arkell, Chairman of the China International Mining Association and CEO of CarringtonDay, expressed great emotion in an interview with a reporter from China Trade Daily. He stated that the trade relations between the two countries have always been highly interdependent, and the high-level leaders of both sides attach great importance to practical cooperation. However, unfortunately, due to the influence of the international political and economic environment, there have been some economic and trade disputes and barriers between the two countries in recent years. During this difficult period, many Australian companies have had to reduce their business scale in China due to operational difficulties, and Australian traders have also reduced many orders to China. Nevertheless, many Australian companies still firmly believe that the market in China will become better and better, and they also believe that China's opening-up level will continue to improve
Dai Bite came to China in the late 1990s and worked for relevant trade institutions in Australia. Later, he also served as a senior manager in the agricultural wholesale and mining industries. He lived in Shanghai, China for a long time in 2004 and established his own human resources company there, mainly serving Australian and many foreign-funded enterprises in China. In 2015, he also witnessed the signing of a free trade agreement between the two sides in Canberra as a representative of the Australian side.

At that time, the establishment of human resources companies in China was mainly due to the rapid development of the Chinese economy, which required a large number of high-quality talents. However, at that time, many multinational companies often stopped in this huge market because they couldn't find the right talents. Another opportunity was that I observed that many Chinese students studying in Australia wanted to return to their home countries for development, but there were no suitable job search channels, "said Dai Bite, He contacted some Chinese international students and recommended them to return to work through his own recommendations, which also received praise from many multinational companies. This made Debbie see his own value, so he decisively stopped his career in Australia and came to China for development.

During these 20 years of living in China, I have personally experienced the tremendous changes in China's development, and many achievements have attracted worldwide attention. Fortunately, for most of the time, the two countries have always been good trading partners. "Dai Bite said, this is not only based on the trade complementarity between the two sides, but also inseparable from the mutual trust that has been cultivated by both sides for a long time. He believes that many of the "twists and turns" in the economic and trade fields between the two countries in recent times are due to a lack of trust. In particular, during the COVID-19, the two sides broke off contacts in many areas, many Australians' business in China was blocked, business efficiency was greatly reduced, and the foundation of bilateral relations suffered a heavy blow. Of course, this is also related to Australia's lack of independence in strategic positioning and diplomatic strategy, "said Debet.
As is well known, due to the previous Morrison administration following the United States in adopting a series of policies towards China, the economic and trade relations between China and Australia have been severely impacted. China has imposed prohibitive tariffs on Australian barley and wine, suspending the export qualifications of multiple Australian beef suppliers. Australia's main export products such as wine, barley, seafood, coal, and wood have been hit to varying degrees. Among them, exports of wine, wood, and other goods to China in 2021 even decreased by more than 90%, and according to the Australian government's estimate, the annual economic losses caused are about AUD 20 billion. In the first half of 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Australia was RMB 684.26 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4%; Among them, Australia's exports to China have significantly declined by 13.1%.
The sharp decline in trade volume between the two countries is not something that the two countries are happy to see. Many Australians are also aware that excessive trade barriers will put a damper on the huge achievement of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement. "De Bite said that although many Australians in the economic and trade community hope for the upgrade of the two countries' free trade agreement, the urgency of the situation is even more urgent, and they hope to restore it to pre pandemic levels as soon as possible. In the past two years, some companies have had to withdraw from the Chinese market because it is difficult to sustain their operations in China. I think this is not in the common interest of both parties
In response, De Bite revealed that Australian economic and trade professionals still have high expectations for the Chinese market and hope to restore the high-level dialogue mechanism between the two countries as soon as possible, which is essential for eliminating trade barriers. It is worth noting that both sides have recently actively promoted bilateral economic and trade relations and properly addressed each other's major economic and trade concerns.
In addition, many foreign enterprises, including Australia, also hope to achieve fair competition in the Chinese market and increase the protection of intellectual property rights. Taking mineral development as an example, they hope that China can increase its openness and allow large international mining companies to form partnerships with Chinese companies to jointly develop natural resources.
In recent years, there have been misunderstandings in many Western countries about China's practices in the economic and trade field, coupled with the intentional exaggeration of foreign media in propaganda, which can also reduce the favoritism of foreign investment and those interested in developing in China. Therefore, it is important for media institutions to truthfully report and promote China's development achievements, while also telling about China's reasonable concerns in certain industries and constantly dispelling doubts, "said Dai Bite.