China Bans Australian Meat Imports As Covid-19 Tensions Rise

China has reportedly suspended meat imports from four Australian slaughterhouses as simmering tensions over the source of the increased Covid-19 outbreak between countries.

The Asian giant, which is New Zealand’s top meat export destination, suspended imports from four Australian slaughterhouses overnight, but did not officially remove them from the list, according to the Australian media outlet.

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Canberra and Beijing have become increasingly entangled in a bitter dispute recently, with the communist state warning that any push for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus would spark a travel and trade boycott.

Australian politicians were in turn unhappy when a Chinese official delivered an unannounced speech at a government press conference held with billionaire miner Andrew Forrest.

Australian farmers have already feared being caught in the middle of the dispute, as China previously threatened to affect Australian barley exports with tariffs that could extract hundreds of millions of dollars from trade, the national television network ABC reported.

Australian Commerce Minister Simon Birmingham said the tariff threat was deeply troubling and “was without justification.”

He said the government was working with Australia’s grain industry to organize the strongest possible case against China’s 18-month anti-dumping investigation.

“All countries have the right to apply tariffs on dumping matters,” Senator Birmingham told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.

“But we are quite clear and firm in our view that there is no justification for finding that Australian farmers and barley producers are subsidized or that they are throwing out their produce in this way.”

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said the threat was retribution for Australia that supported a review of Covid-19’s origins.

“This is a case of recovery,” he told Seven Network’s Sunrise on Monday, adding that the coronavirus investigation was warranted.

The mounting tensions will be closely watched through Tasman in New Zealand.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters recently spoke in support of Taiwan joining the World Health Organization due to its remarkable handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.

But his comments sparked a severe reprimand from China, which urged New Zealand to “stop making wrong statements” about Taiwan or risk damaging the two-nation relationship.

“China urges New Zealand to strictly adhere to the ‘one China’ principle and immediately stop making wrong statements about Taiwan, to avoid damaging our bilateral relationship,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.

China is also the largest importer of kiwi meat in both volume and dollars.

In March, New Zealand’s monthly value of red meat and co-product exports topped $ 1 billion for the first time, according to an analysis by the Meat Industry Association.

Total exports reached $ 1.1b for the month, an increase of 12% in March 2019.

Miles Anderson, president of the Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Industry Group, said its members will closely monitor the situation between Australia and China.

“Anything that violates the trade agreements that have been drawn up with the WTO worries us,” he said.

“As a trading nation, we depend on foreign trade, like Australia, for a large portion of our revenue, and we hope that this dispute will be resolved amicably and as quickly as possible.”

Anderson said a few years ago that kiwi exporters were in a similar situation when they changed the way they prepared paperwork on their exports and this led to Chinese officials rejecting exports.

“It was just a technicality, but it took a little time to figure that out with officials in China. I guess border control had been used for a form of paperwork and when it changed, they were suspicious or concerned.”

“I hope it is something similar to that.”

The Morrison government has been asking for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19 for a few weeks to better understand how the virus started in Wuhan, China, so that it can counter such pandemics in the future.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia supported a motion by the European Union for an independent investigation.

“We support the EU motion that includes independent investigation, regulatory work in wet markets and also the potential for independent inspection powers,” Hunt told Sky News.

However, earlier this month, Beijing lashed out at Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying he deserved “a slap” for trying to blame the Covid-19 pandemic on the communist state.

Federal Labor said the Australian government must show leadership in managing this important relationship at this difficult time.

“We are now testing how it is when we mismanage our relationship with our largest trading partner. This barley issue dates back 18 months; it predates Covid-19,” opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon told Sunrise.

– with news.com.au