Coronavirus: Amid spat, Australia says China silent on urgent trade talk request

SYDNEY • China has not responded to a request for urgent talks after Australia's key agriculture exports were hit with suspensions and tariff threats, said the Australian trade minister, as ties sour over Canberra's call for a coronavirus pandemic inquiry.

Australia is pushing for an independent inquiry into the outbreak to help prevent future pandemics, but it has angered China, its largest trading partner, which believes such a call is anti-China propaganda.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said yesterday he had not received a reply after requesting a call with Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan after four large beef exporters were suspended this week by Chinese Customs authorities.

"The ball is very much in the court of the Chinese government," Mr Birmingham told ABC television. "We have made it very clear that I am available and keen to have a discussion."

The beef suspensions revealed on Tuesday came just days after China proposed introducing tariffs of up to 80 per cent on Australian barley shipments, raising concerns they were retaliatory actions by Beijing for Canberra's push for an inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak.

Chinese officials had said "privately and publicly these are unconnected matters", Mr Birmingham earlier told TV network Seven, adding that Australia sought a respectful relationship with China.

Mr Birmingham has said the beef suspensions were linked to issues with labelling and health certificates, while the barley tariffs were related to an anti-dumping case.

The nationalist Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the official People's Daily, said in an editorial yesterday the suspensions of the meat processors should serve as a "wake-up call" for Australia for its unfriendly actions, and "concern over potential retaliatory measures from China seems totally justified given Australia's heavy economic reliance on China".

Australia's National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson said the industry was concerned about disruptions to trade with China, which took a third of Australia's farm exports, including 18 per cent of beef production.

Last month, Chinese ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye warned that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian products if Canberra pursued the coronavirus inquiry. Australian government ministers described his comments as a threat of economic coercion.

Australian Grape and Wine chief executive Tony Battaglene said winemakers were worried they could become embroiled in the dispute given the Chinese ambassador had cited wine as a potential target, but said there had been no sign of this yet.

"We are hopeful the language has become more tempered," Mr Battaglene said.

Dairy Connect chief executive Shaughn Morgan said dairy farmers, who export a third of produce, were unaffected and the Chinese market was "highly valued and important for the long-term sustainability of the industry in Australia".

Mr Birmingham and Foreign Minister Marise Payne both said there was international support for a coronavirus inquiry, and Australia will support a European Union resolution on a review at the World Health Assembly this Sunday.

REUTERS