Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic which originated in Wuhan, China in 2019, dealt a severe blow to
the global economy. After the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a pandemic in
March 2020, the Australian government banned the entry of foreign nationals and the travel of its own
citizens. These stringent state border controls became known as “Fortress Australia.” The downturn
in industries like tourism caused the country’s GDP to fall below the previous year's levels in both
the January-March and April-June quarters of that year, bringing an end to a long period of prolonged
economic growth that was unprecedented in Australia's and any other advanced economies’ history.
Amid this situation, then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in April 2020 that an
investigation into the origins of the corona virus in China was necessary, prompting a fierce reaction
from the Chinese government. In May, it suspended the export licenses for four Australian beef processing companies to China and imposed high anti-dumping tariffs on Australian barley. These import
restrictions on Australian products lasted for four and a half years, until December 2024.
This paper examines these Chinese import restrictions on Australian products as “economic
sanctions” and analyzes their impact. Building on prior research and using Australian Bureau of Statistics export value data, seven product categories were identified as sanction targets, and the specific
sanction periods for each were analyzed. The results show that while exports to China decreased by
AUD 42 billion, total exports to the global market excluding China increased by AUD 1158 billion.
Consequently, the impact of China's economic sanctions on Australia's total export value was minimal.
Analyzing the impact of the sanctions from both Chinese and Australian perspectives reveals that, for
China, the sanctions against Australia effectively failed. In Australia, the public lost trust in China and
other foreign policy areas, such as regional security, were not affected. This provides a significant case
study in how to respond should China adopt similar economic diplomacy measures or sanctions toward
other countries or regions in the future.
