Labor MP Tim Watts cautioned on Tuesday that economic decoupling from China – an idea that is advanced by some of the most hawkish politicians in Canberra – would be “an unprecedented act of national self-sabotage”. His Liberal colleague, the former diplomat Dave Sharma, agreed that wholesale decoupling was not a serious proposition, because China was deeply integrated into the global economy and because Australia had been a “massive beneficiary” of its growth and industrialisation.
Both MPs were to outline their views about how Australia should manage its increasingly challenging relationship with China at an event organised by the China Matters thinktank at parliament house on Tuesday morning.
