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As anti-China rhetoric heats up down under, expressing support for one of the region’s most important trade relationships has become a risky business

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The shells of the Sydney Opera House are seen through a Chinese flag. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:00am, 10 Aug 2020Updated: 4:30pm, 10 Aug 2020

What Helen Sawczak doesn’t know about doing business with China isn’t worth knowing.

Having run the Australia China Business Council (ACBC) for more than four years, the formidable yet approachable Sawczak has an encyclopedic knowledge of a relationship now worth A$235 billion (US$169 billion) in two-way trade. In short, she is the perfect person to act as a bridge between two of the Asia-Pacific’s most important trading partners.

Unfortunately, she has resigned.

While she says the decision is personal and it is simply time to move on, her departure coincides with a marked deterioration in China-Australia ties. In her early days as CEO, the relationship had been hitting new heights with the signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement in late 2015.

Fast forward to today and relations between Canberra and Beijing have sunk to their lowest in decades amid disputes over Hong Kong, the South China Sea, alleged espionage, and racist Incidents against people of Asian appearance in Australia.

And while trade is still booming – with Australian exports to China hitting a record A$14.6 billion in June – it has not been immune to the politics. Beijing’s introduction this year of restrictions on Australian beef and barley was widely seen in Canberra – correctly or not – as retaliation for its push for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.