As the relationship between China and Australia continues to become cold, the various commodity sectors in Australia are very uneasy, worrying that they will become the next "victim" of China-Australia relations. Today, China is cutting through the mess and decisively suspending the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, which has made all walks of life in the country fearful. According to the Observer.com news, a few days ago, the US Bloomberg revealed that China may take new actions against Australia, targeting liquefied natural gas, which will give Australia a fatal blow.
It is reported that Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that at least two smaller Chinese gas importers have been told to suspend imports of Australian products. According to US media, this is another example of the coldness of economic and trade relations between the two sides after the deterioration of Sino-Australian relations. But at present, other large or small importers have not changed their purchasing plans, so the analysis believes that China does not intend to take more measures in this field.
It is worth noting that China is currently Australia's largest trading partner, and Australia is China's largest LNG supplier. As early as last year, Australian energy giant Woodside Petroleum revealed that its negotiations with Chinese companies had been put on hold, which must be related to the deterioration of Sino-Australian relations. Now the US media once again stated that the two Chinese companies were asked to no longer import Australian products, but the vast majority did not receive similar news. To this end, the US media also specifically asked relevant Chinese authorities for verification, but have not yet received a reply.
It is understood that Australia is one of the world's largest LNG suppliers, and more than 40% of China's annual natural gas imports come from Australia. Data show that in 2020, China imported 29 million tons of Australian natural gas, accounting for 46% of total imports.There is currently no indication that Australian products will be restricted, and with such a large number of imports, it will be difficult to find alternatives.
In addition, due to the cooling of Sino-Australian relations, the Australian side has repeatedly worried that China will sell its commodities, calling it "China's attack on Australian products", but in fact, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made this clear. He said that the relevant measures taken by the competent Chinese authorities on foreign products exported to China in accordance with laws and regulations are not only in line with Chinese laws and international regulations, but also responsible for Chinese domestic industries and consumers. The US media suddenly hyped up that China wants to take action against Australian natural gas, I am afraid it has ulterior motives.
After China imposed restrictions on Australian coal last year, U.S. companies took advantage of the vacancy and successfully seized the market share vacated by Australia. With such "good intentions", it is hard not to suspect that the U.S. is keeping an eye on the Australian natural gas market in China. As soon as there is any trouble, the United States will follow the trend and step on Australia by the way.
There are different opinions among domestic people as to whether China will take measures against Australian natural gas, but some netizens pointed out that China should take measures against Australia's education industry - refusing to recognize Australian diplomas. British media once pointed out that Chinese students can bring 7 billion Australian dollars of educational investment to Australia each year, but now due to the deterioration of Sino-Australian relations, Chinese students studying in Australia have dropped sharply, and 7 universities have dropped out of the list of the world's top 100 universities.
The Australian education field of losing Chinese students is wailing, but the Morrison government does not take it seriously. The Australian Minister of Education announced the decision to focus education on domestic students, but the effect is still greatly reduced. Today, major universities in Australia are facing greater financial pressure, and it is not uncommon to reduce programs and layoffs.However, the Morrison government is reluctant to introduce policies to help the education industry tide over the difficulties, so how the country's education industry develops depends on when China-Australia relations will improve.
