China-Australia tension as biggest trading partner gives us the cold shoulder

By Kirsty Needham
12 April 2018 — 3:23pm


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Hainan, China: The freeze in diplomatic relations between China and Australia is on, despite official denials – and business executives are clearly despondent about it.
That was the message from the sidelines and back-room meetings at the Boao Forum in China this week.
Chinese president Xi Jinping in the spotlight at the Boao economic forum this week.
Photo: Bloomberg
No Australian ministers attended. In fact, no Australian ministers have stepped foot in China this year, because the usual smooth process of invitations being issued and dates being confirmed by Beijing has ground to a halt.
This is a freeze.
The reason for it is what Beijing perceives as the Turnbull government's anti-China rhetoric surrounding its foreign interference legislation.




At an annual closed-door meeting of Chinese and Australian business leaders at Boao, the apparent block on Australian ministers visiting China emerged as a concern.
How does Australia climb out of this spat and mend the bilateral relationship when the usual calendar of warm, cordial trade and tourism events now appears at risk of disruption? And when no Turnbull ministers are able to go to China, what is the next step to smooth things over?
Former Treasurer Peter Costello says it's important to keep dialogue open.
Photo: Sanghee Liu
Former treasurer Peter Costello, who has attended Boao for a decade and was invited this year to talk about tax reform, told Fairfax Media he came this year because it was important to keep up the semi-official diplomacy track.
“When the official relationship becomes strained it is important that countries who have long term interests have continued dialogue and the capacity to keep the lines of communication open,” he said.

“We might have a strained relationship with China but it is still our largest trading partner.”
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Costello, former foreign minister Bob Carr and former ambassador Geoff Raby were at Boao. Australian Ambassador Jan Adams was also there.
Fortescue Metals has been a diamond sponsor of the Boao event for a decade, and its founder Andrew Forrest continues to enjoy good access to the Chinese leadership – he attended a lunch with Xi Jinping on Wednesday.
Senior business executives whose companies have operations in China were also in Boao – AMP’s Craig Meller and Australia Post’s Christine Holgate.

Several Australians lamented that Bob Hawke, one of the originators of the Boao Forum, did not make it. It was his first absence.
Fortescue chief Andrew Forrest talking about his impression of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the Boao forum.
Photo: Sanghee Liu
There was nothing to be read into this other than the time is approaching for the former prime minister to hand the baton to another generation.
After 2010, when a former Rio Tinto mining executive Stern Hu, was sentenced to 10 years' jail for taking bribes and stealing trade secrets during contentious iron-ore contract talks, Hawke helped the thaw.
But business leaders are now scratching their heads over who might step into the breach as Australia is feeling the cold shoulder from its largest trading partner.