In addition,Australian grape exporters are now reporting Chinese customs delays due to COVID-19 clearance issues,while honey exporters are also seeing a slowdown in orders from Chinese retailers.

These early signs mirror the informal restrictions placed on other industries,which can have a trickle-down effect from geopolitical tensions as Chinese importers become more reluctant to take risks on ordering Australian stock,fearful they will be blocked by their government at the border.

IBISWorld analysis in December showed Australian dairy,honey,fruit and pharmaceuticals,which derive between 30 and 40 per cent of their export income from China,were vulnerable to further trade strikes if relations continued to deteriorate.

But it is education and tourism that threaten to be the largest post-COVID risk for Australia. In February,Australian universities began receiving reports that Chinese agencies in regional areas were being encouraged by local authorities not to send new students to Australia. China accounts for 37 per cent of Australia’s $10 billion-a-year foreign university student market.

Chinese tourists spent $12.4 billion in Australia in 2019 before COVID-19 shut down international travel. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show they accounted for 15 per cent of arrivals,apart from short term visitors from New Zealand,that is double the next largest cohort - from the US. Tourism Australia had forecast in 2019 that 10.8 million were considering travelling to Australia in the next four years,a huge potential market for tourism operators that have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Cheng said on Thursday that racial discrimination driven by the current geopolitical tension would make Chinese students and tourists question whether they wanted to travel to Australia.

“My question is whether there will be a friendly environment for their return,” he said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government would maintain its national security positions and speak out on human rights abuses. He said Australia’s largest export,iron ore,worth $80 billion a year,remained resilient to trade threats.

“China is the world’s largest steel exporter and our iron ore has helped them develop their own economy to a great extent,” he told the ABC. “They can’t replicate our iron ore in either the quality or the quantity very easily from other countries.”

Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd said Australia’s escalating military rhetoric this week was driven by the need to shift the domestic political agenda,“not any substantive change in regional security over recent weeks,while recklessly throwing fuel on the China fire”.

A speech byHome Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo amplified tensions on Tuesday after he declared the “drums of war” were beating in relation to concerns mounting over China’s intentions on Taiwan.

The speech,which largely focused on “the chance for peace” was criticised by China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in Beijing on Wednesday for irresponsibly hyping up “the threat of war”.

“These people are the real troublemakers,” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.