Anchoring Australia

Nothing exemplifies the tension between geoeconomics and geopolitics quite as well as the identity crisis that has come to grip Australia in recent years. For over a decade now, Australia has sought to create a new Asian identity for itself as its economic relationship with China and other East and Southeast Asian economies has grown. China is by far Australia’s biggest trade partner; Sino-Australian bilateral trade now stands at more than $105 billion. Japan is Australia’s second-largest trade partner, with more than $66 billion worth of bilateral trade. The United States, a long-standing strategic partner and wartime ally, is a distant third; its bilateral trade with Australia totalled less than $50 billion last year.

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