Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australians would "speak for ourselves" on global trade.

Australia has swiftly turned down China’s offer to “join hands” against Donald Trump’s tariffs, as Washington escalates its trade war with Beijing.

The White House recently imposed an import tax of 10% on Australian goods, but for China - Australia’s biggest trading partner - raised tariffs to 125%.

China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian argued joint resistance is “the only way” to stop the “hegemonic and bullying behaviour of the US”, appealing for Canberra’s cooperation in an opinion piece on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, said Australians would “speak for ourselves”, while the country’s defence minister said the nation would not be “holding China’s hand”.

  • GeorgeSC@lemmy.worldEnglish
    494·
    25 days ago

    Former Australian here, long story short
    In one hand Australia has sold off to China via raw resources, real state, education, etc. so they are quite dependant on them; but in the other hand, China has had no problem throwing its weight around using the above’s fulcrums.

    IMO trusting the chinese gov would be silly, as they lie, obsfucate, use and scheme against everyone; they are just another bully.

    • taladar@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      61·
      25 days ago

      Trusting any foreign government is silly if it is about something where your and their interests don’t align (or might diverge in the future), trusting any foreign government makes sense if it is about something where you are sure interests will stay aligned for the relevant time period. Governments are not people, you can’t make friends with governments or trust them with matter 10 because matters 1-9 all worked out okay.

  • namingthingsiseasy@programming.devEnglish
    91·
    25 days ago

    Smart decision. China has already made clear attempts to coerce Australia, not just economically1, but militarily as well 2, 3.

    As grim as foreign relations look with the USA, it would be foolish to immediately run to China instead, because they clearly do not intend to have a symmetric relationship with any of their partners either.

  • GingaNinga@lemmy.worldEnglish
    103·
    25 days ago

    Have any of these countries tried being nice? I see a lot of sticks and no carrots.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      211·
      25 days ago

      They’re all run by corporate sociopaths. You’re never gonna see “nice” again from any of the plutocracy.

      • enkers@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        131·
        25 days ago

        While I appreciate what China has been doing in the green energy sector, let’s not pretend it’s out of anything other than self preservation. They’re just prescient enough to realise that they need to move away from fossil fuels to not destroy their own future.

        Wish I could say the same for other Western democracies. We’re too hellbent on maintaining materialistic consumerism to properly invest in our own future.

        • evenglow@lemmy.worldEnglish
          212·
          25 days ago

          So what? China fixed climate change and is willing to sell affordable solar and batteries and EVs to the world.

          USA did not do that. China did.

          • enkers@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            61·
            25 days ago

            My point is that acting out of self interest doesn’t constitute being “nice”. They’re still willing to meddle in the internal politics of other nations if it benefits themselves, just like the US is.

  • QProphecy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    138·
    25 days ago

    That’s a mistake in my opinion. We should all join hands, as a united block against these bullies.