Australia says it doesn't want trade war with China

Australia’s tre minister said Tuesday that his country does t want a tre war with China, but maintained Beijing h erred by imposing stiff tariffs on Australian barley in what is widely seen as punishment for vocating an investigation into coronavirus pandemic.

China effectively ended imports of Australian barley by putting tariffs of more than 80% on crop, accusing Australia of breaching World Tre Organization rules by subsidizing barley production and selling crop in China at below production costs. move came a week after China banned beef imports from Australia’s four largest abattoirs over labeling issues.

“Australia is t interested in a tre war. We don’t pursue our tre policies on a tit-for-tat basis,” Tre Minister Simon Birmingham told reporters. “We operate according to tre rules that we strongly support.”

Birmingham said China “has me errors of both fact and law” in applying WTO rules, ding that re was evidence that Australia was engd in dumping of products.

tre dispute has coincided with Australia's push for an international investigation into origins of coronavirus pandemic and responses to it. Beijing has denied y are related.

World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it mand international response to virus, which was first found in China late last year. evaluation would stop short of looking into contentious issues such as origins of virus.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said China supports idea of a comprehensive review of global response to COVID-19 and it should be “based on science and professionalism led by WHO, and conducted in an objective and impartial manner.”

Australia has been seen as a leer in rallying global support for an inquiry, attracting Chinese criticism that it is parroting United States and inviting a Chinese boycott of exports and services.

Chinese Embassy in Australia said Tuesday that WHO consensus reached by its decision-making body, World Health Assembly, in Geneva did t vindicate Australian calls for an investigation.

“ draft resolution on COVID-19 to be opted by World Health Assembly is totally different from Australia’s proposal of an independent international review,” an embassy statement said.

“To claim WHA’s resolution a vindication of Australia’s call is thing but a joke,” statement ded.

Weihuan Zhou, a University of New South Wales international tre expert, said China began its barley investigation in 2018 in response to Australia imposing anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel and aluminum.

But Zhou said he suspects Chinese decisions on beef and barley are because of Australia’s vocacy for coronavirus investigation.

His suspicion was bolstered by China’s decision to set anti-dumping tax at 73.6% — far higher than 56% that Chinese industry h requested. Beijing also imposed a 6.9% anti-subsidy tax.

Birmingham said he understood why people drew link between tre and Australia’s coronavirus stance given Chinese Ambassor Cheng Jingye’s “unhelpful comments” in a newspaper interview last month.

Cheng told Australian Financial Review that Australia might face a Chinese boycott of its tourism and exports of wine, beef and or goods if government pressed for a coronavirus inquiry.

China is . 1 market for Australian beef, accounting for about 30% of exports.

“Ors can debate wher or t re's a link,” Birmingham said.

Beijing has regularly used access to its huge market as lever against governments from rway to Cana in political disputes over past dece. Chinese officials routinely refuse to confirm a tre disruption is related to a political clash but make it clear Beijing wants concessions.

Australian barley farmer Andrew Weidemann said tariff barrier “stops tre completely” with Australia’s biggest customer.

“It’s a really bitter pill to swallow,” Weidemann said. “It’s a real dent in our ecomy and it will have a big impact.”