Australia needs to better understand China

With the promotion of highly complementary structures in trade, relations between China and Australia made great progress in the 21st century, and until last year, China had been Australia's largest trade partner for eight straight years.

But the close economic cooperation and the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries helped little in developing bilateral political trust. For a lack of deeper understanding of their different situations in different fields, Australia has maintained strict vigilance against China.

Australia's identity recognition influences its politics. As part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, the culture of Australia has been deeply influenced by European immigrants, British immigrants in particular. No wonder Australia defines itself as a Western country in the Asia-Pacific region, for which it toes the line of Western political institutions and treats the differences with other cultures, including Chinese, from the perspective of a Western country.