The Australia-China science boom
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James Laurenceson, Director, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney |
Michael Zhou, Project and Research Officer, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney |
In the mid-2000s Australia had delivered a China-led mining boom that continues today. Australia’s success as a producer of raw materials such as iron ore is well known. While domestic demand is negligible, in 2019 Australia’s iron ore exports totalled $96.1 billion (Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2020). The partner that has made this possible is China, buying 82.2 percent of Australia’s exports. China has also been a major supplier of the capital needed to develop Australian mines (Ferguson et al., 2020). To be sure, China has not bought iron ore from Australia or invested in mines out of charity. It has done so because it is in China’s interests and the relationship is one of interdependence and mutual benefit.
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Australia’s high-income status attests to its successes extending beyond being just a competitive supplier of raw materials. It also punches above its weight in the creation of scientific knowledge. Despite Australia’s population only accounting for 0.3 percent of the world’s total, last year its researchers were involved in producing 3.1 percent of global scientific publications (Scopus, 2020). Last year UTS:ACRI researchers drew attention to scientific knowledge being another space where a China boom was unfolding for Australia (Laurenceson and Zhou, 2019). This report documents the latest state of play in Australia’s partnership with China in the creation of scientific knowledge and discusses some of the most recent challenges.
Executive Summary
- With the Morrison government emphasising that Australia’s COVID-19 recovery will be industry-led, enabled by science and technology, the China partnership from mining to scientific knowledge creation is well-placed to feature prominently.
Authors:
Professor James Laurenceson is Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
Michael Zhou is a Project and Research Officer at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney.