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SYDNEY: Australia’s trade minister is seeking urgent talks with his Chinese counterpart after key agricultural exports were hit by tariff suspensions and threats, but said Australia will continue to push for the COVID-19 outbreak to be investigated.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham requested a phone call with Chinese Trade Minister Zhong Shan after four major beef exporters were suspended by the Chinese customs authorities, the Birmingham office said on Wednesday (Dec. 13). may).
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The meat suspensions revealed Tuesday came just days after China proposed introducing a tariff of up to 80 percent on Australian barley shipments, raising concern about Beijing’s retaliatory actions on Australia’s push. for an investigation into the coronavirus outbreak.
READ: China reduces imports of Australian beef after warning against probe COVID-19
China, which is Australia’s largest trading partner, has rejected the need for independent research into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chinese officials had said “privately and in public, these are unrelated matters,” Birmingham told Seven on Wednesday, adding that Australia was seeking a respectful relationship with China.
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Birmingham has said the meat ban is related to problems with labeling and health certificates, while barley fees are related to an anti-dumping case.
The nationalist Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the official People’s Daily, said in an editorial on Wednesday that the meat processors’ suspensions should serve as a “wake-up call” to Australia for their hostile actions.
Citing the impetus for a COVID-19 investigation and Australia’s decision to ban Chinese firm Huawei from its 5G network, the Global Times said, “Concern about possible retaliatory measures from China seems fully justified given strong economic dependence. Australia in China. “
READ: Republican bill seeks sanctions on China for COVID-19 investigation
Last month, the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, warned that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian products if Australia pursues the coronavirus investigation. Australian government ministers described his comments as a threat to the country’s economic coercion, which took about 38 percent of all exports in 2019.
Birmingham said on Wednesday that Australia will continue to support an international investigation into the coronavirus.
“Australia certainly stands firm, we adopt our political positions consistent with our values and we do not consider economic coercion in any sense in terms of changing our political positions,” said Birmingham.
Australia is “far from being a lone voice in progress (an investigation)” and will support a European Union resolution at the World Health Assembly on May 17, he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that the country’s customs agency had found repeated cases of quarantine violations by banned beef companies in Australia and that imports were suspended for “ensure the safety and health of Chinese consumers”.
