Australia and China used to have a good relationship, but the tension gradually increased due to many problems that had accumulated for a long time.

It has been more than a month since China started a trade conflict with Australia by announcing an 80.5% tax on barley and banning the import of beef from four major meat processing companies in Queensland and New York.

These two measures have a strong impact on Australia's agricultural sector and are an alarming signal, when trade between the two countries amounted to US $ 161 billion, from July 2018 to June 2019.

Australian government leaders have not had a state visit to China since April 2016.

The Beijing - Canberra relationship was likened to a "passionate relationship" in 2007, when China became Australia's largest trading partner, particularly in the field of mineral exports.

A conflict occurred in 2008 when then-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia could be China's "right side", or "a friend always pointed out the wrong with offensive comments."

Although Rudd's comments angered China, the two countries finally settled a dispute in 2009 and bilateral trade continued to rise again, resulting in a free trade agreement in 2015.

Canberra at the time had a number of moves in favor of Beijing, such as its accession to the China-run Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, established in December 2015 to finance projects.

"From the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s, the Australian government, both Labor and Conservatives, maintained a balance in relation to its most important trading partner, China, and security ally.

However, the United States at that time did not have any impact to weaken China - Australia relations, experts said.

In 2015, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull came to power, concussion information was revealed that former Australian senator Sam Dastyari had received money from the Chinese-backed Yuhu Group to promote a legal bill.

Yuhu was founded by billionaire Huang Xiang Mac, a Chinese citizen living in Australia but was revoked his permanent residence rights in February 2019 over allegations of foreign interference.

The incident occurred as China intensified its economic influence with Australia and many other Western countries, both in asset investment and real estate development.

Money from China quickly flowed into Australian real estate projects around 2013 and continued to increase during the boom period from 2014 to 2018. However, this left local real estate owners at bay.

Yuhu has contributed greatly to the real estate craze in Australia, continuously acquiring land and initiating commercial real estate projects.

Allegations related to former Senator Dastyari and doubts about China in Australian media led to the Australian government passing a new law in 2018 to prevent foreign interference.

The Turnbull government, from September 2015 to August 2018, witnessed the relationship between China and Australia becoming unprecedented icy for decades, according to Switzer and James Laurenceson, director of the Australian Relations Institute -

"It is difficult to point out the exact time when China-Australia relations will begin to erode, but I think around 2017," Switzer said.

Not only has the Australian government changed its tone and policies, China has also taken a stiffer stance, Laurenceson said.

In 2017, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a speech in Singapore also warned Beijing will never reach its full potential without respect for democracy.

Chinese telecommunications conglomerate Huawei was later banned in 2018 from providing 5G services in Australia.

In the latest twist, Australian federal police recently raided the home and office of New South Wales politician Shaoquett Moselmane while conducting an investigation that, according to Prime Minister Morrison, was involved in the intervention.

Moselmane also suspended all roles in the Australian Labor Party on June 26, hours after the raid.

Moselmane publicly praised the "steadfast" leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Covid-19 pandemic, in stark contrast to the response from the Australian government.

Local media reported that MP Moselmane hired a trained employee from the Chinese Academy of Management, a training facility for middle and senior government officials.