Canberra's bias still hurdle to better ties

The Australian government's decision to ban Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network is disappointing as well as poisonous to bilateral cooperation. The ill-advised move again casts a shadow over bilateral ties, which had been showing some signs of improvement recently.

According to a federal government statement issued on Thursday, security concerns and the companies' Chinese backgrounds were the main reasons behind the ban, as it claimed companies that "are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government" would leave the nation's network vulnerable to unauthorized access or interference.

Back in 2012, Australia used similar reasons to block Huawei from bidding for its national broadband project.