Even before this pandemic, Australia’s relationship with China was anything but straightforward. At the end of 2019, reports of interference by the Chinese Communist Party in our democracy, violent crackdowns in Hong Kong, clashes in the South China Sea, upstream Chinese dams of Mekong tributaries threatening water security in Vietnam and Laos, and leaked documents outlining mass detention of Uighurs coloured the debate about the future direction of the bilateral relationship.
