Australia is doomed to continue its tit-for-tat with China because our political class don’t understand our biggest trading partner, new research argues.
The Sino-Australian relationship has become increasingly rocky in recent months. Most recently, China denied it was behind the huge cyber attack against Australian systems.
But new research from The Australia Institute argues the cause of tension is largely due to our ignorance.
In Australia, there are only 20 academics and think tanks with expertise in China, and no specialist schools for training policymakers.
Although no one knows how many people are employed in the federal government to provide advice on China, our ‘‘stupid’’ approach reveals how little we understand it, said Allan Behm, head of the International and Security Affairs Program at The Australia Institute.
“If you’ve got about 20 people who know about China, you’re a hell of a long way beyond the queue line,” Mr Behm told The New Daily.