Australia-China relations in 2022

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The year 2022 - the Year of the Tiger - marks 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Australia and the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Yet rather than a celebration of the bold and strategic approach to the bilateral relationship launched by the Whitlam government in 1972, we are now entering the sixth straight year of worsening tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

The campaign of economic and diplomatic disruption launched by the PRC against Australia is unprecedented in breadth and persistence. Beijing insists it has faced unprecedented provocation. Both sides blame the other entirely. And yet amidst the political turmoil, business and people-to-people ties remain remarkably resilient and upbeat. The factors that drove Australia and the PRC closer together in the past remain present today. But can this last?

The Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI) will host a panel discussion with Australian and Chinese perspectives, in which participants will reflect on the impact that developments in the bilateral relationship had in 2021 and discuss the challenges in the year ahead, as outlined in a recent UTS:ACRI Perspectives piece by UTS:ACRI Advisory Board member and Industry Fellow at Griffith University's Asia Institute, Rowan Callick.

Panellists include Dr Minglu Chen, senior lecturer in the China Studies Centre and the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney; the Hon Warwick Smith AO, Chairman of the Global Engagement Committee - Business Council of Australia and Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs; and Wang Feng, Editor-in-Chief for the Chinese-language portal of the Financial Times.

The panel will be moderated by UTS:ACRI Director Professor James Laurenceson.