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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Australia’s growing anti-China ties with the US are worrying
The general outlook that sees China as a threat, despite being their most important trading partner, makes any possibility of genuine normalisation difficult, despite the claims of Australia’s politicians, writes VIJAY PRASHAD

ON NOVEMBER 15 2022, during the G20 summit in Bali, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told journalists that his country seeks a “stable relationship with China.”

The main reason for this, Albanese said, is because China is “Australia’s largest trading partner. They are worth more than Japan, the US, and the Republic of Korea together combined.” China is Australia’s largest destination for exports, and it is the largest exporter into Australia. This has been the situation since 2009.

When Albanese was asked if China’s President Xi Jinping raised the issue of Australia’s presence in several military pacts against China, Albanese said, issues of strategic rivalry were only discussed in “general comments.” For the past six years, China has largely ignored Australia’s requests for meetings due to its close military alignment with the US.

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