As the US and China clash, what can other countries do?

Keypoints: Neighbours and partners must work to rebuild cross-border trade and boost supply chains as a leadership gap widens during the coronavirus pandemic. Lessons can be drawn from the efforts of Asian countries, which signed their own FTAs as a backup plan to global trade when WTO negotiations stalled at the start of the 2000s.

Read here (South China Morning Post, May 21, 2020)

Australia has dug itself into a hole in its relationship with China. It’s time to find a way out

‘Common sense should put a dampener on a belief that, at the wave of a wand, “supply chains” linking Australia and China can be remodelled. This sort of naive view loses sight of the fact that, for as long as it is possible to foresee, bulk commodities will form the staple of the trading relationship. Given this, Morrison would be advised to cease acting like a global traffic cop in efforts to hold China to account for the coronavirus pandemic...

‘What Australia should be doing – and should have done in the first place – is support international efforts to bring about an inquiry. It will have early opportunity next week when the World Health Assembly considers a European Commission resolution along those lines.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, May 17, 2020)

‘Dangerous, damaging’: China trade dispute triggers national division

‘Victoria and Queensland have warned the federal government to be more diplomatic in pursuit of a coronavirus inquiry, fearing that Australia's escalating trade dispute with China will harm already fragile state economies...

‘Australia-China Business Council chief executive Helen Sawczak said the inquiry had been politicised for domestic point scoring and warned more Australian industries to prepare for trade strikes if the government could not negotiate with China.’

Meanwhile... ‘Beijing is also pushing new beef and resources deals with Brazil and barley trade with Canada and eastern Europe. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro recently spoke with China's President Xi Jinping after China supplied medical equipment. The country is one of Australia's top rivals in the critical iron ore, coal and LNG sectors.’

Read here (Sydney Morning Herald, May 13, 2020)