Advertisement
As Li Qiang visits, ‘persistent duality’ of Australia’s China thinking on show
- Australians seem perennially conflicted about China. They like the pandas and value pragmatic ties. But the security concerns? Not so much
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
8
Su-Lin Tanin Singapore
Ahead of Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s historic visit to Australia this week, a new poll shows that despite Australians’ lingering wariness of the Chinese government, most recognise the importance of maintaining a robust relationship with China.
Advertisement
In a similar spirit, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that the meeting with his Chinese counterpart would span discussions on panda diplomacy – in particular the continued loan of two animals to Adelaide Zoo – as well as the recent confrontation between their militaries.
Nearly three-quarters of Australians view China as a security threat, according to the annual ACRI/BIDA poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 people between April and May.
Just over half also raised concerns about foreign interference and investment from China. A similar percentage have expressed this view across the four-year history of the poll from the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute and Centre for Business Intelligence and Data Analytics.
But six in 10 also said they believed that Australia should continue to have strong ties with China, and could do so while maintaining a good relationship with the United States at the same time.
There is a persistent duality in public thinking on the Australia-China relationship
This “persistent duality in public thinking on the Australia-China relationship” has remained “even as anxieties about China get even more pronounced”, Elena Collinson, a research analysis manager at ACRI and one of the poll’s two authors, told This Week in Asia.
Advertisement