China suspends economic dialogue with Australia as relations curdle

The Australian dollar fell sharply on the news and was as low as 0.7701 to the U.S. dollar from Wednesday's $0.7747

China "indefinitely" suspended on Thursday all activity under a China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, its state economic planner said, the latest setback for strained relations between the two countries.

"Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination," China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a short statement on the decision.

The commission did not say in the statement what specific measures prompted the action.

China's foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, told a daily conference the suspension was a "necessary and