• Separate administrations conducted investigations into the feasibility of ‘diversifying’ import-export relationship, all resolved such a decoupling would be unmanageable
  • Current relations came after years of networking by exporters and cannot be replicated elsewhere, analysts say

Australian authorities conducted three separate internal studies in the past eight years to determine whether the commodity-exporting nation could completely diversify its supply chains from China – but all said the task was impossible, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The unanimous and non-partisan judgment helped to justify Canberra’s renewed trade engagement with Beijing late last year despite obstacles such as Aukus, a regional security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3236860/australia-concluded-china-decoupling-impossible-after-series-classified-studies