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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".

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[-] georgesc@lemmy.world 61 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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.works 9 points 2 months 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.

[-] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

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

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 28 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They're all run by corporate sociopaths. You're never gonna see "nice" again from any of the plutocracy.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Read up on what China has been doing with green energy. Then Australia.

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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.

[-] Ledericas@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Besides that, one of their other major concerns is population, apparently they are trying to get a headstart on fixing it?

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world -5 points 2 months 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.

[-] Suffa@lemmy.wtf 9 points 2 months ago

China did not fix climate change you liar.

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months 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.

[-] lolo@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

China fixed climate change?

EDIT: I genuinely didn’t know climate change had been “fixed.” This is great news!! You’d think more people would mention it.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago

“The bottom line is that the world runs on imported fossil fuels under the umbrella of the Pax Americana,” said Kingsmill Bond, an energy analyst at Ember, a London-based energy think tank. “As Trump destabilizes that, then people will look to their own domestic energy sources, which in most cases means renewables and electrification.”

The new order that Bond is describing would push the United States to the side. While this view is optimistic about global growth of renewables, heat pumps and EVs, it also indicates a slower and dirtier path for the U.S.

Bond argues that since most countries do not have plentiful oil and gas within their borders, they need to import it and have confidence in the stability of supply and pricing. As that confidence erodes, they will look to alternatives.

Most countries do not have substantial solar panel, wind turbine or battery production, so reliance on those resources would also require imports. But the difference compared to fossil fuels is that a shipment of solar panels, for example, can provide benefits for 30 years. The buyer isn’t signing up for dependence on daily shipments of fuel.

[-] namingthingsiseasy@programming.dev 10 points 2 months 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.

[-] QProphecy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

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

[-] Suffa@lemmy.wtf 54 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Okay, let’s all join hands against China.

China has been putting up to 200% tariff on Australian products and resources for decades now to punish us every time we do anything critical of them or that they don’t like. They are our biggest bullies, without a doubt.

[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

It's funny how black and white people think.

Like just because the US is becoming an authoritarian bully that just wipes out China having been an authoritarian bully for decades.

[-] taladar@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

The US has been a bully for at least a century too even if maybe a slightly less authoritarian one than China.

[-] Klear@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago

You just explained tankies.

[-] febra@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Can't expect a US vassal state to go against their bosses interests

this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
158 points (100.0% liked)

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