"The relationship that we have with China is important. And we have no intention of injuring it," Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said last week.

Although she claimed during high-level talks between the United States and Australia in Washington that her country values ties with China and does not always follow the lead of the US, Canberra should bear in mind that actions speak louder than words.

Given the damage Canberra has done and continues to do to China-Australia ties, there is still a long way to go for Australia to match Payne's words with deeds. Until then, bilateral ties will continue to go from bad to worse.

Despite Payne's claim that Australia acts and thinks independently, it indisputably continues to follow the US lead in hurting China's interests. That behavior, if unchecked, will threaten the fundamentals of bilateral ties and squander what their cooperation has achieved so far.

Echoing the US administration's assault on the Chinese video sharing app TikTok in the US, Australia's intelligence agencies are investigating whether TikTok poses "a national security threat" to Australia. Some Australian politicians are pressing Australia's federal government to ban TikTok, which has been downloaded by more than 1.5 million Australians.

Owing to that same paranoia, Australia's Department of Home Affairs is reportedly scrutinizing Chinese social media app WeChat, which is hugely popular in Australia and used by more than 2 million Australians.

Yet Australia's paranoia against China does not end there. On Sunday, South Australian Senator Rex Patrick, a notorious China hawk, tweeted that, "Action is needed to protect Australia's power grid from foreign disruption. We need to remove companies controlled or significantly influenced by the Chinese Government. Power equipment made in China may involve unacceptable risk."

Such groundless accusations will further poison the atmosphere of Sino-Australian cooperation, which has proven to be mutually beneficial and should not be sabotaged by Australian politicians with ill-intentions toward China.

Rising anti-China sentiment in Australia and its politicians' hawkish attitude toward China repeatedly remind the Chinese people that a country which they used to deem as friendly has evolved into a frontrunner in Washington's anti-China campaign.

Such a perception will have consequences for Sino-Australian interaction. Canberra should not misjudge the situation and indulge in the delusion that it can forever enjoy the economic benefits of cooperation with China while continuing to hurt China's interests. It is Australia that will bear the consequences of deluding itself in this way.