The CCP’s Economic Coercion Tactics Against Australia Meet Its Waterloo
Commentary
Coercive economic policy is one of the key means of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) presumptuous diplomacy style. Take a look at the foreign ministers’ meeting at G7 on May 5, when it criticized the CCP for “arbitrary, coercive, economic policies and practices.” The next day, the CCP’s National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) issued a statement on its indefinite suspension of all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, stepping up its economic coercion of Australia to a whole new level since 2020.
Seemingly, the CCP has great favorable conditions for its retaliation against Australia. Firstly, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics, from 2009 to 2010, China surpassed Japan, becoming Australia’s main export country. In the four-year period from 2014 to 2015 and 2019 to 2020, the value of Australia’s exports to China had doubled, an increase from $59 billion to $118 billion (A$75 billion to A$150 billion). Currently, China is Australia’s largest trading partner in import and export. In 2020, the total barter trade between China and Australia was $181 billion (A$230 billion), accounting for 35 percent of Australia’s total foreign trade and 12.5 percent of Australia’s GDP.