There is a positively laughable piece of advice being propounded by Shadow minister Simon Birmingham at the present time. Imbued by a level of audacity Birmingham has suggested that, in relation to our trade with China, “There’s no reason for these tariffs to be in place a day longer than, frankly, after discussions are had between the prime minister and President Xi. These tariffs should be removed tomorrow”.
It must be remembered that it was entirely during Morrison’s Prime Ministership that our relations with China reached a new low. Beijing had abandoned all ministerial contact with us and imposed significant trade sanctions on a number of exports where we had a huge competitive advantage. And Birmingham has been involved in the Ministerial ranks of the LNP Coalition since at least 2013 and through the Morrison PM era.
Therefore it would be major ministerial folly for anyone in Government to refer to the “Birmingham Primer of Sino-Australian political relations”. By definition that book would be one of the thinnest ever published.
Suresh Rajan
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