According to a report by the Global Times on January 2, due to the loss of China’s “big customer”, the Australian Minister of Trade Dan Tien, who “has three fires for new officials,” said recently that he would work hard to develop trade relations with India to make up for the lost. Chinese market. But soon after the proposal was put forward, it was criticized: "Why did you go?"
's criticism of Dan Tien came from the Australian Labor Party trade spokesperson Madeleine King. Madeleine pulled out a copy of 2018. The report written by the former head of foreign affairs and Indian-Australian diplomat Peter Vages pointed out that Dan Tin’s so-called “deepening Australia-India trade relations” had many ideas that were mentioned in this report two years ago. And gave very specific suggestions. Madeleine believes that the current Australian government has made a mistake in its judgment and has failed to establish a relationship with India as early as this report said, so that it is only now "temporarily holding back."
refers to news reports and pointed out that although Tien is full of confidence, his wishful thinking is difficult to start in India. In order to protect national enterprises with limited domestic competitiveness and relatively low-productivity agriculture, India has been implementing highly protectionist economic policies for decades. After Modi came to power, he vigorously implemented the "self-reliance" policy. In a speech on December 27, 2020, Modi also publicly called on Indians to buy "Made in India" products in the new year instead of "Made in foreign countries." , In order to promote the "voice for the local" movement. It can be seen that it is difficult for India to develop a trade relationship that is beneficial to both sides as Tien expected. India hopes to develop a trade relationship that is more beneficial to itself. Otherwise, the "Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement" will not be discussed for 9 years and still have no results.
Compared with the Chinese market, is the Indian market really that important to Australia? The figures are the most illustrative of the problem. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, China is Australia’s largest export target country in 2019, with exports to China of US$103.435 billion, accounting for 38.09% of its total exports, and a trade surplus with China of 483.83 In 2019, Australia’s exports to India were 9.84 billion US dollars, accounting for 3.62% of its total exports, and its trade surplus with India was 6.599 billion US dollars. In the face of such a contrasting set of data, I don't know where the confidence of Australian officials to substitute the Indian market for the Chinese market comes from.
