Australian envoy describes China as ‘vindictive’

Australia’s ambassador to Beijing reportedly described China as a “vindictive” and “unreliable” trading partner, as Australian officials revealed sharp declines in most exports to the nation’s most important market.

Ambassador Graham Fletcher told a China-Australia business group in an online briefing from Beijing on Thursday that he did not know if China was aware of the damage its business practices were causing in Australia and internationally.

“He has been exposed as unreliable as a business partner and even vindictive,” The australian newspaper and ABC on Friday he quoted Fletcher as saying.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately comment on the accuracy of the media reports.

A diplomatic gap between free trade partners has worsened since Australia called for an independent investigation into the coronavirus pandemic a year ago.

READ MORE:
* China is ‘accelerating’ the campaign to divert key imports from hostile democracies
* What is driving the frost between Australia and New Zealand?
* Why we should join Australia in the case against China

Australian exports of coal, wine, barley, cotton, lobsters and timber have been blocked or severely disrupted, generally for unclear reasons.

China is unlikely to disrupt trade in iron ore, Australia’s most lucrative export, while production in Australia’s main rival Brazil is compromised by the pandemic.

Due to the boom in iron ore prices, Australian exports to China fell just 2 percent in value in the last six months of 2020, compared to the same period last year, officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs told a Senate committee Thursday night.

But with iron ore removed, Australian exports to China would have fallen by about 40 percent, department official Elly Lawson said.

“We have seen quite significant declines in some commodities,” Lawson said.

Officials did not give a dollar value to the exports.

The pandemic had a negative impact on Australian exports, but exports had only declined by 22 percent to the rest of the world outside of China, said department economist Jennifer Gordon.

Forty ships carrying Australian coal were stranded off the Chinese coast, some for “several months,” said department secretary Frances Adamson.

Australian coal exports to India and Japan have “increased quite substantially”, limiting the decline in total exports of coal – Australia’s second most valuable commodity – to 8 percent, Gordon said.

Commerce Minister Dan Tehan wrote to China’s new Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in January in an attempt to establish lines of communication. But Wang didn’t respond, Lawson said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday welcomed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s criticism of “China’s blatant economic coercion on Australia” in a speech in Brussels.

“We want to have a positive trade relationship with China and obviously we are facing some difficult issues in that relationship and we really appreciate the great support we have had from liberal democracies around the world. Nothing less than in the United States, ”Morrison told reporters.

“We have always liked to solve these problems. But even though we are big on trade in Australia, we don’t trade who we are and we don’t trade our values ​​- never, ”Morrison added.