China is Australia's largest trading partner. Trade and investment with China is central to Australia's future prosperity. In 2017, China bought $116 billion of Australian exports, more than a quarter of Australia's total exports to the world; China is our top overseas market for agriculture, resources and services. Chinese investment in Australia reached $65 billion by the end of 2017.

https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/in-force/chafta/fact-sheets/Pages/chafta-outcomes-at-a-glance

More recent:

China is Australia’s largest trading partner; two-way trade between the countries is worth $194.6 billion annually. The value of Australia-China relationship is more than twice that of our next largest trading partner, Japan.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/05/01/how-will-covid-19-affect-australia-china-business-relations-.html

 

 

 

 

 

Hugh White sees the US–Australia military alliance weakening, possibly disappearing, as China’s rise undermines US hegemony in East Asia and as US relative power wanes. ‘We will really be on our own’, he observes in How to defend Australia.

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/an-expensive-leap-into-greater-uncertainty-hugh-white-and-the-defence-of-australia/

Hugh White AO is an Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, long-time defence and intelligence analyst, and author who has published works on military strategy and international relations.

Australia, ANZUS
and Rising China: can Melos have cake and eat it too?

https://www.defence.gov.au/ADC/Publications/documents/Shedden/2013/Rawlins%20final%20PDF.pdf

Might we have to choose between war and the overwhelming cost to our country(the world) or continuing economic prosperity?

Celia you should be more worried about Trump and the current US administration. Trump is unstable, unpredctable and more likely to initiate a conflict with China because it suits his own personal agenda. You so easily forget it was the Bush administration that iniated the war in the ME based on false information.

Countries in SE Asia have every right to maintain and defend their territorial integrity against China's expensionism so what are US warships doing there? If Chinese warships were cruising just outside of US territorial waters or in the Gulf of Mexico would the US not feel threatened and retaliate?

 

"American philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky has criticized Washington's policies on Iran and referred to polls from prestigious centres, which show that America is the biggest threat to world peace. According to Iran Press/America, he told a New York school on January 4 that the former Republican Party had now become a "radical rogue" that has abandoned any parliamentary policy."

https://www.twn.my/twnf/2020/4897.htm

Russian aggression and the rise of China are among the biggest foreign policy concerns Americans face. In many countries, though, the world power seen as most threatening is the United States.

https://www.axios.com/the-biggest-global-threats-us-russia-china-c3230b2c-447e-472a-b9dc-5b2a2e2b3117.html

Which Country Is The Greatest Threat to World Peace?

https://brilliantmaps.com/threat-to-peace/

 

 

Incognito, you don't seem to know much about the Trump administration. His advisors are his family, hand picked devotees and advocates for the continuation of Trump's power. Many of the advisors "in the know" he has fired or they have left the administration in despair. Trump is more than just a business man. The Trump administration has even stacked the Supreme Court. He a megalomaniac that will do anything to stay in power. That includes manipulating and threatening foreign governments. Even long standing allies if they disagree with him. Even John Bolton, a renown hawk who was in the US administration believes Trump is a very dangerous man. He plays a very dangerous game with China and it may well be to our detriment.

China is expansive and ruthless with it's own people and anyone that doesn't toe the party line or any other country that gets in their way but they don't need nor want a war. They have nothing gain and everything to lose. The Trump administration want a war because it boosts their defence industry and Trump's base love to rally around a cause and engage in violence. Just look how they have treated some of their state governors. He is also looking for a distraction from the mess he's made with the Covid-19 in the US and their economy.

https://indivisible.org/resource/donald-trump-national-security-risk-here’s-current-trumpthreatlevel

The high-temperature argument over blame for the coronavirus is rapidly pushing the United States and China into a potentially dangerous new Cold War.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-05-06/us-china

COVID-19 Depression : Donald Trump Needs a War ?

https://www.hastakshepnews.com/covid-19-depression-donald-trump-needs-a-war/

U.S. says it will 'always have Australia's back' after Chinese ambassador threatened to boycott Aussie products over push for coronavirus inquiry

 

Bipartisanship in U.S. politics is rare, but when it comes to the relationship with Australia, both Republicans and Democrats say the U.S. 'will always have Australia's back

 

 

 

Probably because of Pine Gap!

   Pine GapDescriptionPine Gap is the commonly used name for a US satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18 kilometres south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the centre of Australia which is jointly operated by Australia and the United States.Wikipedia Opened: 1970Operators: Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency

 

Which means whatever war the US initiates with China, Iran or North Korea, they will expect us to be there in the thick of it. We all know how that has worked for us in the pAST- Vietnam, Korea, the ME and Afghanistan except if there is ever a war between the US and China it will far worse for us in lives lost, a decimated economy and no one else to rescue us.

"Republicans and Democrats say the U.S. 'will always have Australia's back"

Seriously don't you think there is a cost to this? A very strong potential cost to us? All this posturing and brinkmanship is going on in our backyard not America's.

China bans Australian abattoirs

Gavin Fernando, 12 May 2020.

China has suspended meat imports from at least four Australian abattoirs amid rising tensions between the Federal Government and Beijing. The Kilcoy plant, Beef City in Toowoomba, the Dinmore meatworks in Brisbane and the Northern Co-operative Meat Company at Casino in NSW have been suspended by Australia’s largest trading partner.

There are fears it was a retaliatory response to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s call for an independent investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/coronavirus-china-suspends-meat-imports-from-four-australian-abattoirs-amid-rising-tensions/news-story/9cc28264688dc1fe26725295b3e9eed9

I posted this on the "China" thread over a week ago and still stand by it....

 

 

Sophie1 week ago

 

 

“News items on anything Chinese and how it will affect Australia.” (Topic Heading).

 

Australia is not the only country that has been condemned and threatened for demanding accountability from Beijing regarding the coronavirus.

However…many of those other countries do not have as much to lose fracturing relationships with China. I believe words spoken cannot be taken back by our leaders and they should be very careful of their rhetoric.  

Australia’s trading relationship with China is hugely significant. China is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner in goods and services, representing more than a quarter of all international trade. In 2018-2019 that figure reached $235 billion.

Australia has been accused of acting with “little diplomatic tact” ..I agree.

 

 

 

A China Mobile sign in Shangahi. The world's largest mobile network is set to buy the largest phone network in the Pacific Islands as trade disputes rise between Australia and China 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8317283/Beijing-moves-buy-biggest-mobile-network-Pacific-Islands-expand-influence-region.html?ito=email_share_article-image-share

 

 

 Guam military base is at risk now, US defense sources have warned

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8326109/US-lose-war-China-fought-Pacific-Pentagon-sources-warn.html?ito=email_share_article-image-share

 

 

The USS Ronald Reagan. The US would lose a war with China fought in the Pacific, is unable to defend Taiwan from an invasion and fears the Guam military base is at risk now, US defense sources have warned

The US would lose a war with China fought in the Pacific, is unable to defend Taiwan from an invasion and fears the Guam military base is at risk now, US defense sources have warned. 

'Eye-opening' Pentagon war games have revealed growing fears the US is vulnerable to threats from China and that any attack would lead to the US 'suffering capital losses', the sources said.

The worrying analysis is expected to come to light in the Pentagon's 2020 China military power report this summer.