Australia’s engagement with China: From fear to greed and back again

Abstract

This paper examines how Australia has managed its relationship with China. It looks at the broad trends in the relationship, with a focus on the decades after recognition in 1972. The second part examines the recent past, and particularly the ways in which Australia’s active courtship of China has begun to be tempered by concerns about the destabilizing security and strategic consequences of the country’s return to power. It assesses the options Australia faces and the growing polarization of opinion between security “hawks” and economic “doves” in public debate about Australia’s future, and then charts where Australian policy is currently placed. The paper concludes by explaining why Australia finds taking a nuanced position in relation to its engagement with China so difficult.