<figure id="attachment_3030241" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3030241" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3030241" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/112d569b-australia-china.jpg" alt="Australia China" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3030241" class="wp-caption-text">Defence minister Richard Marles noted that Australia seeks to steer clear of a US-China trade war and concentrate on diversifying trade. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
SYDNEY: Australia rebuffed China&#8217;s appeal to &#8220;join hands&#8221; to defend trade on Thursday, as Beijing looks for partners to help it blunt US tariffs now ratcheted up to 125%.
Ambassador Xiao Qian urged Australia and other trading partners to &#8220;jointly respond to the changes of the world&#8221; in an opinion piece written for a Sydney newspaper.
&#8220;Under the new circumstances, China stands ready to join hands with Australia,&#8221; Xiao wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald.
But Australia&#8217;s defence minister Richard Marles was quick to pour cold water on notions of Canberra and Beijing uniting in &#8220;common cause&#8221;.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not about to make common cause with China, that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s going to happen here,&#8221; Marles told Australia&#8217;s Nine News.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ll be holding China&#8217;s hand.
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to see a trade war between America and China, to be clear, but our focus is on actually diversifying our trade.&#8221;
Australia is one of the US&#8217; most steadfast security allies in a region coming to grips with China&#8217;s rising military, economic and diplomatic might.
But China is also Australia&#8217;s largest trading partner.
Australia has been slugged with a blanket 10% tariff on goods exported to the US, despite some lawmakers questioning why Washington would seek to punish a friend.
US President Donald Trump abruptly paused the highest tariffs on most countries Wednesday after admitting they made the markets nervous, but doubled down on a spiralling trade war with China.
Trump said he was raising tariffs on China to 125% because of a &#8220;lack of respect&#8221;.
US levies on Australia were also unchanged.

MatchPoint Times

Australia rebuffs China’s appeal to ‘join hands’ in trade

Beijing seeks partners to unite in a ‘common cause’ to counter US import levies, now escalated to 125%.

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