China has suspended an economic agreement with Australia, worsening an already-troubled relationship fractured by disagreements over the Covid-19 pandemic and human rights abuses.
In a statement Thursday, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue was pulled “based on the current attitude” of the Australian government.
The statement blamed some officials of a “Cold War mindset” and “ideological discrimination, adding that Beijing would indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the agreement.
Tensions between the two sides have soared since Canberra called last year for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and banned telecoms giant Huawei from building Australia’s 5G network.
Meanwhile, Australia called the decision “disappointing”, with Trade Minister Dan Tehan saying the dialogue had provided an important forum for the two countries, although he said no such talks had taken place since 2017.
China — Australia’s biggest trading partner — has already imposed tariffs or disrupted more than a dozen key industries, including wine, barley and coal, decimating exports.
Canberra has previously described the avenue for talks — designed to boost trade between both sides and introduce large Chinese investors — as one of the “premier bilateral economic meetings with China”.
It called the first meeting in 2014 a chance for “closer economic ties” but relations between the two have since sunk into deep freeze.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
