You’d be excused if you were nervous about our national reliance on trade with China.

There is plenty of news that should make you worry about the Middle Kingdom.

I listed a few of them in a previous column: China is a rapidly ageing country, has a shrinking population (that it accidentally over-counted by around 100 million people – but that’s a story for another time), a property sector on the brink of collapse, and the potential desire for some geopolitical adventures.

Right around the time the pandemic really got going (May 2020) Australia sent 47 per cent of its merchandise exports to China.

There are plenty of ways to measure exports. We shall not worry about the details too much right now since they all show the same trend. The takeaway message is the same anyway – too many eggs in one basket.

Doing business with China was just too good to be true. A gigantic country that still had to urbanise, that saw population growth, that hadn’t established a........

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