Australia hits back at 'provocative' and 'cheap' Chinese embassy comments on Covid-19 inquiry
Australia’s trade minister has criticised the Chinese embassy for “provocative” and “cheap” comments after the diplomatic mission said it was “nothing but a joke” for Canberra to claim vindication over calls for a coronavirus inquiry.
Simon Birmingham said Australia would not “engage in cheap politicking over an issue as important as Covid-19” and it would have been “appropriate” for China’s ambassador, Cheng Jingye, to welcome progress towards a global agreement on the review.
“Just as we won’t on trade issues engage in a tit-for-tat-type retaliatory measures, we will work sensibly through the issues that are before us – equally on these types of provocative comments,” Birmingham told Sky News late on Tuesday.
“We’re not going to escalate rhetoric. We’re not going to have some sort of cheap political exchange with China’s ambassador in Australia.”
The remarks come as trade tensions intensify over China’s decision to hit Australian barley imports with tariffs of more than 80% – a move that Australia will consider challenging through the World Trade Organization.
Earlier, the embassy in Canberra said the resolution set to be decided at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday evening was “totally different from Australia’s proposal of an independent international review” – something it argued was clear from a close look at the draft itself.
“All those who know the consultation process that led to the resolution understand this,” an embassy spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
“To claim the WHA’s resolution a vindication of Australia’s call is nothing but a joke.”
China had repeatedly claimed Australia’s vocal early calls for an independent investigation into the origins and handling of the coronavirus were a political “manoeuvre” against Beijing. But on Monday the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, voiced support for a Covid-19 review led by the World Health Organization, although he said it should only happen after the pandemic was under control.
A motion drafted by the European Union and strongly backed by Australia is expected to pass the World Health Assembly on Tuesday.
The motion – co-sponsored by about 120 countries – calls on the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to initiate a “stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” to review the lessons learned from the international health response to Covid-19.
This process should be launched “at the earliest appropriate moment” and in consultation with WHO member states, the motion says.
But the question of origins is not dealt with in that process. A separate clause in the motion urges Tedros to continue to work closely with the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and countries “to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population”.
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, said she was pleased to see broad international support for the EU-drafted resolution, but the government should clarify “how the two reviews will work and explain how they deliver on what Australia has called for”.
“The government needs to explain why it changed its mind and now thinks the WHO is best placed to investigate the origins of the coronavirus,” she said.
Before the Chinese embassy’s intervention, Australia’s agriculture minister, David Littleproud, told reporters: “We should be damn proud as a nation that we led the world, not only on understanding what the WHO has done, but understanding what wildlife wet markets’ role is in these pandemics.”
The embassy’s strongly worded statement is a sign of the strains in the Australia-China relationship. Last week a former senior diplomat warned that ties between the two countries were at risk of slipping into permanent hostility.
The new tariffs, which take effect on Tuesday and apply for five years, come as a blow to Australian barley producers, which rely on China as their largest export market. Industry groups predict the impost will make the trade impossible until the dispute is resolved.
China’s commerce ministry announced late on Monday that it would proceed with tariffs of 73.6% on barley imported from Australia after an 18month investigation into claims the industry was “dumping” the product at a lower price than at home.
In addition, a tariff of 6.9% will be applied based on claims the Australian industry gains an unfair advantage from government subsidies. The commerce ministry said the dumping and subsidies “caused material injury” to China’s domestic barley industry.
But Birmingham said it was “completely ridiculous” for the Chinese government to list measures such as Murray-Darling Basin infrastructure upgrades as a type of subsidy to barley exporters, when the bulk of the barley production involved dry-land farming.
Birmingham said it was “very disappointing that China has, to date, refused to schedule minister-to-minister discussions” as this would be the best way to resolve disagreements.
He said Australia would “reserve our rights” when it came to having the dispute resolved through the WTO, although he noted “there may be other paths that we choose to pursue first”.
Littleproud said “wild speculation” that the push for a Covid-19 inquiry could have been behind China’s decision on barley tariffs was “dangerous”.
“There is no trade war,” Littleproud said.
“Everyone needs to take a deep breath, take a cold shower and understand that we produce the best food and fibre in the world and that we’ll be able to send our barley and other produce into other markets if our pro
ducers wish to do so.”
The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese,
called on the government to seek clarity from the US about the American agriculture sector’s increased access to China “and whether that has disadvantaged Australia”.
China announced last week it would immediately allow barley imports from the US, which was seen as a measure to meet commitments in the first phase of a trade deal with Donald Trump.
The National Farmers’ Federation said it was “frustrated and deeply concerned” with Beijing’s decision on tariffs and called on the government to pursue the issue through the WTO “to the fullest extent possible”.
The federation’s chief executive, Tony Mahar, said China was Australia’s largest barley market, taking almost half of its crop – worth about $917m – each year.
“This is a massive blow to Australian grain growers, who are right now nearing the end of their winter planting,” he said.