China has “indefinitely” suspended key economic dialogue with Australia, the latest in a growing diplomatic rift between both countries.
Relations have been on the decline since Australia called for a probe into the origins of the virus and banned Huawei from building its 5G network.
Last year, China imposed sanctions on Australian goods like wine and beef.
In a statement on Thursday, a Chinese government commission accused Australia of having a “Cold War mindset”.
“Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination,” China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement.
Reacting to the decision, Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said it was “disappointing” but added that Canberra was still open to discussions.
Canberra has previously described the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue as one of the “premier bilateral economic meetings with China”.
China had previously already informally stopped ministerial-level communication between the two countries.
James Laurenceson, the Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute said Beijing’s move appears to be extending that diplomatic freeze.
“Up until now, both Canberra and Beijing have been saying that the lower level day-to-day nitty-gritty continues as normal. And now we’re seeing co-operation and dialogues even closer to that are being disrupted,” he told.
