Introduction
There exists strong evidence that reveals deterioration of trade relations between Australia and Japan. The former has focused on new trading partners such as China, whose economic growth in the recent years has been tremendous.
The relationship between Australia and Japan has been two-way commercial for over five decades1. Notwithstanding this relationship, the public opinion in Australia has sometimes been against the Japanese because of the atrocities they committed during the Second World War. The public opinion can explain the recent trend whereby Australia has shifted attention towards China as a trading partner.
In the recent years, Australia has increased purchases of manufactured goods from the most populous nation. Analogously, Australia has been importing raw materials in larger volumes. This essay will discuss the state of trade relations between Japan and Australia and the emergence of China as Australia’s major trading partner.
Discussion
For more than the past five decades, Australia and Japan have enjoyed regional and bilateral benefits stemming from their commercial interconnections that yielded developments and accumulation of wealth to the two countries. The two nations have been sharing joint interests and cooperation. Building this remarkable partnership dates back to sixty years after the end of World War II with Australia supplying Japan with natural resources and energy exports.
Despite the strong economic relationship between Japan and Australia with both economies geared towards a common security framework, shared interest, and bilateral cooperation in pursuit of common multilateral goals, the relationship between the two economies has been constrained by a number of factors. One of the major concerns is the need for a genuine cultural relationship. China has been working so hard to seal this gap, but still Japan outshined it by a significant edge2.
The partnership between Japan and Australia was in several ways a natural one, built on their openness to investment and trade. Today, Japan and Australia interact with a bigger number of interlinked global powers with different levels of development, political ideologies as well as interstate policies.
These influential trends have affected an extensive global debate revolving around appropriate reactions to climatic changes, trade negotiations, and on the controversial issue of humanitarian crisis. Japan and Australia are predominantly susceptible to such global trends, as primary countries in the Asia Pacific region where new principal powers and power diffusion are predominant. With China among the rising countries, power balance in the region is gradually changing largely3.
The Japanese Threat
Traditionally, communal financially viable needs have fostered emergence of physically powerful trade links, with Japanese investments being a central source of economic escalation and capital expansion in Australia4.
However, questions posed about the aptitude of the Japan-Australia cooperation, and the biased and bureaucratic mechanisms that surround it to deal with the entrenched antagonism towards Australia’s contact with her long time trade partner Japan date back from as early as 1986 when early cipher of anti-Japanese cropped up.
The international Trade and Industry ministry of Japan floated a bid to establish what they called silver city communities abroad, meant to act as settlements for Japanese retirees for the latter part of their lives.
This move was not welcomed smoothly in Australia. Some perceived it as a means of bringing in pensioners, a move that was vehemently opposed by the Australian government because the age limit for immigrants into the country would be at least 55 years, with no intention to seek employment and with enough assets to support themselves5.
Australians by tradition expressed a sense of threat about Japanese from the experience that some Australians faced under the Japanese during the World War II. The anti-Japanese mind-set has received passionate exposure from the Australian media. Due to its fast expanding investment and the post-war emotions, Japan has become a major target of scorn. This affects Australia’s dealings with Japan largely, albeit not seriously or permanently.
Australians generally have a phobic attitude toward the Japanese, which is the most insightful area of controversy in their bilateral association. The loss of the strong connection between Australia and Japan evidenced first in 1971. More than two-thirds of Australian respondents in the Gallup survey outcome believed that Japan would grow to be an immense threatening power whereas in reality it ranked way below China, Russia, and Indonesia suggesting a cautious Australian population, still wary of their experiences in the war6.
Public debates and multi-functional polls conducted in Australia, though inconsistent and undeniably unpredictable, reflect the peoples concern on foreign investment by the Japanese. Definitely, the civic debates point toward the feebleness of Australia’s connection with Japan and its ramification on the domestic economy of Australia. The Australian community raised serious ethnic overtones in their comments on Japan. They failed to accept the supremacy of a formerly scorned state7.
The Chinese Factor
Over the years, China has strengthened her bilateral relationship with Australia based on common wellbeing and shared esteem offering paramount projection to maximize common economic interests, enhance Australia’s political and planned welfare, and manage disparities in a rational manner8.
In fact, Australia views association with China as one of its most vital strategies. For more than four decades, both sides had forged the common understanding and friendship between the two states. Recent and frequent consultations between leaders from both sides mark the rebuilding and maturity of this relationship.
Towards the end of 2007, the mutual economic relationship between Australia and China saw Japan’s position as Australia’s largest trading partner taken over by China. Later in 2009, China became Australia’s principal market for Australia’s exports. The most critical element of China-Australia joint affiliation is collaboration revolves around climatic changes with a dual statement on earlier cooperation concluded in 20089.
China and Australia have so far held several ministerial conferences on the aforementioned issue and workshops on conservatory gas inventories in favour of Chinese counterparts. Negotiations of high quality liberated trade consensus between China and Australia that commenced in 2005 are multifaceted, comprising of an avalanche of issues and products such as manufactured commodities, services, agricultural quotas and tariffs in china, temporary immigration of residents, and overseas investments10.
The Decline of Trade between Australia and Japan
Trade between Japan and Australia seems to be declining. This may be attributed to various reasons despite the major efforts, key dialogues, and security agreements that reveal the existence of wide-ranging strategic interconnection between them.
The major and most recent decline in trade engagement seems to be a consequence of the prickly fall in the Japanese market emanating from the recent global economic crisis, an aspect not equally as significant for other Asian nations including China. Trade component between Japan and Australia fell by 18 % in 2010 following a fall in both exports to and imports from Japan.
Consequently, investments have been seen to decline by 35 % in 2009, and this can be attributed to two outstanding changes: a largely notable fall in outlay and a decrease in investment from their counterpart, Australia. In addition, the miniature declines in travel for employment and business, though extended research articles on Japan-Australia relations have offset this11.
During the of 2009-2010 period, Japan’s component of education fell by 30 % with the number of both students from Japan to Australia and students from Australia to Japan declining. Similarly, the number of tourists between the two countries has dropped markedly since 1990s.
Flights en route to Australia are nowadays more costly, and there is reduced air travels from Japan to Australia. Most businesspersons are travelling to China, whose business and vacation opportunities are intertwined. A slight decline in migration was experienced between the two nations in 2009, according to the latest census results12.
Unless the economy of Japan recovers at a fast rate, China will persist in outshining Japan in the near future. Instead of growing, the Japanese economy is shrinking as China’s economy is expanding.
Most of Australian businesses, especially the small and mid-sized ones are finding it much easier to market their merchandise in China than in Japan (Harcourt). Thus, though Canberra continues to import automobile, technological parts, and electronics from Japan, the growth of imports has decreased largely due to increased competition other countries such as South Korea and China13.
Conclusion
In summary, the trade relations between Japan and Australia have deteriorated following the rise of China as a major trading partner. The existence of cultural disparities between the two countries has exacerbated the decline. Moreover, the negative public opinion on Japan in Australia has contributed to the decline in the relationship despite that the two nations had enjoyed about five decades of partnership in trade.
Although the two countries have disparities in the manner they approach business, they had strong diplomatic ties that promoted trade. Currently, Australia has increased purchase of manufactured goods from China with China importing raw materials from Australia. Such an example reveals the shift of attention from Japan as a trading partner.
Bibliography
Bayari, Celal. Australian Economy and Neo-Liberalism: Manufacturing, Tradeand Bilateral Links With Japan in the Post-Keynesian Age. Berlin: LIT Verlag Münster, 2012.
Cook, Malcolm, and Andrew Shearer. “Going Global: A New Australia-Japan Agenda for Multilateral Cooperation.” Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2009: 1-20.
Embassy of Japan in Australia. Bilateral Relations. 2012.Web.
Fengjuan, Xiao, and Lindsay Turner. “A Study On Financial Service Trade Between Australia And China.” Economic Papers, 27, no. 1 (2008): 57–69.
Mackerras, Colin. “Australia-China relations at the end of the twentieth century.” Australian Journal of International Affairs, 52, no. 2 (2000): 185-200.
Rix, Alan. “Cry havoc?: public opinion and recent Australia-Japan relations.” Policy Organisation and Society, (1991): 15-24.
Sheng, Yu, and Ligang Song. “Comparative Advantage And Australia–China Bilateral Trade.” Economic Papers, 27, no. 1 (2008): 41–56.
Tow, William T. Asia-pacific Security:Us, Australia and Japan and the New Security Triangle. London: Routledge, 2007.
Williams, Brad, and Andrew Newman. Japan, Australia and Asia-Pacific Security. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis, 2006.
Footnotes
1 Cook and Shearer. “Going Global,” 5.
2 Embassy of Japan in Australia, “Bilateral Relations.”
3 Bayari, Australian Economy and Neo-Liberalism,101.
4 Rix, “Cry havoc,” 17.
5 Williams andNewman, Japan, Australia and Asia-Pacific Security, 52.
6 Tow, Asia-pacific Security, 174.
7 Ibid.
8 Mackerras, “Australia-China relations at the end of the twentieth century,” 188.
9 Sheng and Song. “Comparative Advantage And Australia–China Bilateral Trade,” 47.
10 Ibid., 48.
11 Fengjuan and Turner, “A Study On Financial Service Trade Between Australia And China,” 58.
12 Ibid.
13 Sheng and Song, “Comparative Advantage And Australia–China Bilateral Trade,” 54.