Distrust against China rises among Australian population: University of Technology Sydney

Sydney: – Over the last few months, the relations between Australia and China have deteriorated furthermore. Besides, it is being revealed that the Australian population is also losing faith in China. 67% of the Australian population believes that China has become a threat to the country’s security. A survey revealed that while a third of the Australian population has no faith in China, 63% of the population wishes that the Scott Morrison government should take sterner decisions against China. The result of the survey delivers a slap across the face of China, which has been claiming that Australia has no alternative for China.

China is believed to be the biggest trade partner of Australia. 29% of the total Australian international trade is with China. Since 2017, the relations between Australia and China started developing tension. Australia accuses that the Chinese diplomatic and trade policies are responsible for this tension. The survey conducted by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) mentioned this.

Last year, the Coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent trade war, sanctions against Huawei, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, and the Chinese actions against the protestors in Hongkong increased the tension between Australia and China. The dispute peaked after it was exposed that the Chinese hackers were behind the cyberattacks on government and private companies. The Chinese activities to interfere in Australian politics were also revealed during the same period. UTS said in its survey that all these factors resulted in the Australian population losing faith in China.

The discontent against China increased further, in the Australian population, after the accusation that the Coronavirus pandemic originated from Wuhan in China became more intense. 62% of the Australian population has taken an anti-China stance. In contrast, 72% of the population has expressed support to the demand made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that there should be an impartial investigation into the origin of the Coronavirus pandemic. China had expressed annoyance over the Morrison demand.

51% of the Australian population believes that the Chinese investment is more harmful to Australia than beneficial. Nearly 65% of the Australian population has expressed concerns over the Chinese investment in the Australian agriculture sector.