| Abstract: | Relations between China and Australia have remained on a very low level in recent years due to a series of events, which have thrown their bilateral relationship into its most difficult period since diplomatic ties were established. Since late 2017, the Australian media and individual politicians began to play up the issue of political penetration by China in Australia, which severely undermined the atmosphere for sound bilateral relations. In August 2018, the Australian government barred Huawei, China's leading company in information and communications technology, from its 5G network on national security grounds, which set a notorious precedent of rejecting Huawei's 5G technology among Western countries and cast a shadow upon the prospects of improving relations. |
