Australia lives with an acute fear of abandonment.

In security terms this fear has underpinned Australian foreign policy settings for decades. Recently, doubts about the reliability of the United States as Australias security guarantor have sent Australian government ministers on a mission to convince America that ongoing and expanded engagement with Australias neighbourhood is in its own interests.

These days Australia also fears economic abandonment by China. This arises from the possibility of being cut off from voracious Chinese demand worth nearly seven percent of GDP, an exposure that can lead to claims that Australias economy has become too dependent on China.

The usual prescription to address Australias China risk is greater diversification. But this misunderstands how economic ties are formed. Unlike security ties, the pattern of Australias external economic engagement is mainly determined exogenously by market forces economic complementarities and purchasing power not elected officials or bureaucrats sitting in Canberra. While diversification ought to be vigorously pursued with traditional customers such as the US and Japan as well as with up-and-comers like India and Indonesia, the reality is that none of these countries individually or collectively offer the potential to substitute for the scale of demand that China injects into the Australian economy, now or into the foreseeable future. Such are the complementarities and scale of purchasing power expected to be added to Chinas economy that many Australian industries will need to grapple with more exposure to China, not less.

A more extreme policy to deal with Australias China risk would be to try to force a decoupling. But given that trade is mutually beneficial, this would necessarily be costly to Australias prosperity. Other countries would also be happy to pick up any trade opportunities with China that Australia left on the table. Further, economic interdependence with China helps to manage and reduce security risks by keeping China engaged in multilateral frameworks and disciplines. In contrast, China-specific tariffs, quotas and outright bans would represent an abandonment of Australias international treaty commitments and its oft-stated commitment to supporting an international rules-based order.

What is needed is a rigorous analysis of the risks that exposure to China presents. Economic risks are sometimes described as black swans, shocks that are made more challenging by the fact they cannot be foreseen. Alternatively, there are grey rhinos: obvious yet perhaps neglected threats. This paper argues that Australias China risks are of the grey rhino variety. The first is that Chinese economic growth could experience a hard-landing, causing demand for Australian goods and services to fall. The second is that a shift in the structure of Chinese demand could be unfavourable to the industries in which Australia excels, limiting the scale of trade opportunities. The third is that China could use economic links to punish Australia over political disagreements.

Evidence is presented showing each of these grey rhinos risks to be relatively limited, at least at more aggregate levels. The visibility of Australias China risks, as well as their likelihood and scale of impact, suggests they are largely capable of being managed with appropriate contingency planning.

The key takeaway is that Australian government policymakers and businesses are justified in focusing on the opportunities that economic engagement with China presents, while putting in place mechanisms to protect their interests in the event of disruption.

Professor James Laurencesonis Acting Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.He has previously held appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia), Shandong University (China) and Shimonoseki City University (Japan). He was President of the Chinese Economics Society of Australia from 2012-2014. His academic research has been published in leading scholarly journals including China Economic Review and China Economic Journal. Professor Laurenceson also provides regular commentary on contemporary developments in Chinas economy and the Australia-China economic and broader relationship. His analysis has appeared in theAustralian Financial Review,The Australian,Sydney Morning Herald,South China Morning PostandChina Daily, amongst others.

Michael Zhouis a Project and Research Officer at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney. Michael completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics at the University of Western Australia. His research interests include the Australia-China economic relationship, Chinas economic development, and regional trade. He has studied in China at Shanghai Jiao Tong University under the New Colombo Plan, and has previously interned at the Australian Chamber of Commerce Shanghai and the Perth USAsia Centre.

This article was published by Australia-China Relations Institute at theUniversity of Technology Sydney on the 22nd of May 2019.