The first-ever report comparing attitudes of Chinese and Australian business leaders towards bilateral engagement was conducted by NAB and the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney. This excerpt from the report synopsis examines how bilateral engagement is expected in increase.

Bilateral engagement is expected to increase, particularly from a Chinese business perspective.

• Australian firms expect to increase their engagement with China in the next 12 months, led by product imports and exports of services and products. Again intentions vary by business size and industry. For small firms, future engagement is dominated by plans to further increase product imports whereas large firms signalled an intention to increase engagement across a broader range of activities.

• By industry, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers plan to increase engagement through product imports, while mining firms plan to cut back product imports as the mining investment boom winds down. Instead, more mining and manufacturing firms plan to increase product exports to China. More manufacturing firms also intend to grow their engagement by ‘offshoring’ products.

• In China, the intention to increase engagement is much stronger for all engagement types. The nature of this intention is very much two-way. For example, Chinese manufacturing firms have strong plans to increase both product exports and imports.

Source: NAB ACRI Key bilateral insights from the inaugural Australia-China Business Engagement Index Synopsis. Pages 2 and 4

Read the full index findings here.