Australian PM Morrison says he won't trade values in response to China's 'coercion'

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not cave to coercion and trade values as the country’s exports are hit after it’s strong criticism of China’s handling of coronavirus. Speaking to radio station 2GB, Morrison said that Australia will always act in the national interest and never be intimidated by threats, referring to the reports of China’s state media.

“We are an open trading nation, mate, but I'm never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes,” said the Australian Prime Minister.

The 52-year-old Australian leader was at the forefront of gathering international support to launch an investigation into the origin and course of the coronavirus outbreak which soured Australia’s relations with China. Australia has been successful in gathering immense support that led to the adoption of a resolution at the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) to probe into COVID-19 response.

China has punished Australia’s beef producers, and barley farmers in apparent retaliation and now it is reportedly asking Chinese students to reconsider studying Down Under. Morrison said that Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world, which he knows is compelling. He added that the ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia has substantively been their decision.

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'Not to target any country'

In April, Morrison said that the call for an inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak is reasonable and not meant to target any country. He insisted that though his call was not an attempt to target China, an independent assessment would seem entirely reasonable and sensible given the extraordinary impact and implications.

According to Johns Hopkins University, over 7.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across the globe with more than 416,000 deaths so far. The United States, Brazil, Russia, the UK, and India are the worst-hit with over 50 per cent of COVID-19 cases reported from these countries.

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