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Australia’s Trade Minister: Economy would suffer if Chinese students stay away

Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said on Wednesday, the economy would suffer if Chinese students stay away, complying to the warning issued by China against the alleged racial discrimination by Australia.

Additional quotes

“We would feel the effect – our universities would, if we saw a downturn in international student numbers.”

“It would also be a loss for Chinese students and in the long term would do nothing to help further the mutual understanding between our two nations.”

“Australia had “zero tolerance” toward racism and had established processes to stamp it out.”

According to Department of Education data, “China is Australia’s most important trading partner and sends the most international students, accounting for 37.3% of 442,209 overseas students in higher education in 2019,” per Reuters.

This comes after China’s Education Ministry, on Tuesday, warned that Chinese students should carefully consider their decision about studying in Australia.

The relations between the two close trading partners have soured over the last few months after Australia called for an international enquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus. In response, China threatened to boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities.

Market reaction

 The aussie dollar is unperturbed by the above remarks, as AUD/USD keeps its recovery mode intact around 0.6970 region. The spot also ignored the dismal Chinese inflation figures, as broad US dollar weakness lends support to the rebound ahead of the Fed decision.

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