Economics

The Abbott Government was elected on September 7 2013. This ACRI Fact Sheet provides an overview of Australia’s relations with China under the Abbott Government.

Missteps and a Hard Line

The new government ventured into China diplomacy a month after winning power.

On October 4 at a Trilateral Strategic Dialogue in Bali, Australia joined the US and Japan in a joint statement opposing “any coercive or unilateral actions that could change the status quo in the East China Sea”.1

1. The annual value of Queensland’s goods exports to China is $10.8 billion.¹ This is –

1.3 times that to Japan

2.3 times that to India

2.4 times that to Korea

2. The value of Queensland’s goods exports to China increased by $4.5 billion in the past five years. Exports to –

Japan fell by $6.5 billion

Korea fell by $1.8 billion

India fell by $0.5 billion

1. The annual value of Australia’s goods¹ and services² exports to China is $108 billion. This is –

2.1 times that to Japan

6.7 times that to the U.S.

10.5 times that to India

2. The value of Australia’s goods and services exports to China increased by $64 billion in the past five years. Exports to –

India fell by $8.1 billion

Japan fell by $4.7 billion

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in The Courier Mail, November 19 2014.

The world leader most important to Queensland has just left the building. And it wasn’t Barack Obama or Shinzo Abe. Chinese President, Xi Jinping, thanks for stopping by.

When China overtook Japan to become Australia’s largest customer for goods exports five years ago, Queensland remained a bastion of the old order. At the end of 2008, Queensland’s goods exports to Japan were five-and-a-half times the value of China. Those to Korea and India doubled China as well.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in The Conversation on November 17 2014.

By James Laurenceson

The global economy breathed a sigh of relief last month with the release of China’s third quarter growth numbers. The result of 7.3 per cent was down from 7.5 per cent in the previous quarter but came in a touch above consensus forecasts. The result was sufficiently robust for worries about a hard landing to retreat significantly.

By James Laurenceson

Forget shirt-fronting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s most challenging task this week will be breaking an uncomfortable silence with Chinese President Xi Jinping. And he will have to do it twice: first at the APEC meeting in Beijing and again at the G20 in Brisbane.

By James Laurenceson and Roy Green

With "Made in China" labels everywhere, the villain in the decline of Australian manufacturing appears easy to spot. But a closer look reveals that Chinese imports have been responsible for little of manufacturing's woes. Moreover, China is shaping up as a source of salvation in the future, and not in the way we may imagine.

China’s economy grew by 7.3% during the third quarter of 2014, meeting market expectations.

Polling by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal put the consensus forecast at 7.2-7.3%, the slowest pace in more than five years.

But to see where China is really headed, a closer look needs to be taken at its productivity.

Last week I argued that blaming Chinese money for the worsening real estate affordability in Australia was off the mark (The property bubble myth that refuses to die, 14 October 2014).