China’s economic leverage: perception and reality
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Perceptions of Australia’s vulnerability to Chinese economic pressure are exaggerated. Some individual sectors are more vulnerable than others but this does not extend to the economy as a whole.
Economic pressure that would have the biggest impact on Australia, notably through the iron ore trade, would also impose restrictive costs on Beijing.
The intersection of politics, domestic interests and public perception is where China is most able to use economics for influence at the potential cost to our independent decision-making.
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