China urges citizens to shun Australia as dispute simmers

China is vising its citizens t to visit Australia, citing racial discrimination and violence against Asians, in what appears to be Beijing’s latest attempt to punish country for vocating an investigation into coronavirus pandemic.

A tice issued by Ministry of Culture and Tourism late Friday said re has “been an increase in words and deeds of racial discrimination and acts of violence against Chinese and Asians in Australia, due to impact of COVID-19 pandemic.”

“ ministry vises Chinese tourists to raise ir safety awareness and avoid travelling to Australia,” tice said.

As part of its perceived retaliation, China has alrey 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. That came a week after China banned beef imports from Australia’s four largest abattoirs over labeling issues.

Australian Tre Minister Simon Birmingham on Tuesday said country did t want a tre war, but 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.

Australian has been among countries pushing for an international investigation into origins of coronavirus pandemic and responses to it. Beijing has denied its measures against Australian beef and barley were related to those calls.

World Health Organization has bowed to calls 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 Ambassor Cheng Jingye’s has told Australian media that country 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. It’s also biggest foreign buyer of Australian barley.

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