China Becomes Australia's 2nd Largest Trading PartnerMainland China overtook South Korea to become Australia's second largest trading partner, and Taiwan ranked fifth on the same list in 1999.The daily reported that China's two-way trade with Australia totaled A$10.66 (US$7.1) billion in 1999, compared to A$10.15 (US$6.8) billion between Australia and Korea. Australia also expects to begin selling liquefied natural gas to mainland China, but the project appears unlikely at present as China has no receiving terminal and Beijing has not made any firm commitments to buy from Australia. On the contrary, the magazine reported that Australia would begin exporting LNG to Taiwan earlier as the island already has a receiving terminal in place in Kaohsiung and a formal agreement is likely to be signed in June this year. The magazine reported that despite ranking second, the amount of China's two-way trade with Australia remains far behind the amount of Japan's two-way trade with Australia, which totaled US$20 billion last year. Korea ranked third and Singapore fourth on the list for 1999, followed by Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and India, rounding out the top ten. |
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