China “indefinitely suspends” all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue

Beijing has fired another salvo in the increasingly acrimonious trade war with Australia accusing Canberra of “ideological discrimination”.

Beijing has struck another blow for Australian trade and diplomatic relations announcing it will “indefinitely suspend” all activities agreed to under a key agreement between China and Australia.

The Chinese Government said on Thursday the halt was due to Australia’s “ideological discrimination” against the country.

It’s the latest salvo in the increasing spat between Beijing and Canberra.

A China watcher has said the move was “not good news” for diplomatic relations but was also largely symbolic.

According to Reuters, China’s state economic planner said on Thursday that it had decided to halt all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue.

The strategic economic dialogue (SED), formed in 2014, is the main bilateral economic forum between China and Australia. It has been used to encourage investment between the two nations and smooth trade and finance talks.

The China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue is the two nation’s main trade diplomacy route. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Australia’s “ideological discrimination”

“Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and co-operation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination,” the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement explaining the decision.

The Australian dollar fell upon the announcement.

However, the suspension of the dialogue does not have any effect on current trade between China and Australia. For instance, the announcement saw no new tariffs levied on Australian imports. Additionally, the dialogue hasn’t met since September 2017.

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China has been accused of unfairly holding up Australian goods at ports. (Photo by STR / AFP)

China-Australia relations at “all time low”

Beijing had warned it would “respond firmly and forcefully” to the Federal Government’s scrapping of Victoria’s co-operation deal with China on its flagship Belt and Road infrastructure grand plan.

On Thursday, Chinese Communist mouthpiece the Global Times said relations between Beijing and Canberra had, “sunk to an lowest in recent days,” due to the ending of the Belt and Road deal which was seen as a “provocative move against China”.

Caitlyn Byrne of the Griffith University Asia Institute said the announcement was a further sign of the deterioration of relations.

“It’s not good news. This is clearly a diplomatic signal, and it’s a very visible signal from China expressing displeasure over recent announcements in Australia, particularly related to the scrapping of Victoria’s Belt and Road framework,” she told ABC News.

“But it’s not time to panic. The SED hasn’t actually met since 2017 so it is symbolic, it’s a diplomatic gesture.”

Prof Byrne said it was one of many “targeted, punitive measures” from China.

“We have found ourselves in a situation that is quite challenging; the relationship between Australia and China is at a low ebb and it’s likely to get worse.”

She said there might be opportunities for “low key”relations to China, through business connections perhaps, but high level communication was in the “deep freeze”.

Australia examining more Chinese deals

Earlier this week, the Government said it was examining whether the lease of Darwin Port to a Chinese company should also be annulled on security grounds.

On Monday, the Defence Department said it was seeking security advice on firm Landbridge’s custodianship of the port.

“If there is advice from the Defence Department or our security agencies that change their view about the national security implications of any piece of critical infrastructure, we have legislation now which is dealing with critical infrastructure,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

China has slapped tariffs on Australian goods and held perishable products up at ports. Wine, coal and even lobsters have been hit.

That move come after Australia called for the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to be investigated.

However trade between the two countries has actually held up, largely due to China’s import of iron ore.

Relations between the two nations have been in the deep freeze for several years. Beijing was infuriated when Australia became one of the first nation to ban its tech giant Huawei from work on 5G technology.

Chinese ministers have failed to take any calls from their Australia counterparts in more than a year.