Communist China Escalates Trade War With Australia

Communist China Escalates Trade War With Australia

A day after congratulating Democratic candidate Joe Biden on his supposed “victory” in the U.S. presidential election, Communist China has escalated its trade war with Australia, a key American ally in the Asia-Pacific. 

China on Friday introduced up to 212 percent export duty on Australian wine. This would be a devastating blow to Australia’s wine industry as China makes up for about 40 percent of country’s total wine exports. Australia’s wine growers are the latest target of Chinese bullying this year. Other Australian exports recently targeted by Beijing include barley, coal, seafood, and timber.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Biden on his “win.” The Chinese dictator hoped for a “spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation” and “win-win cooperation” with Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in the White House as he prepared to ramp up a trade war with a major U.S. ally. The Chinese foreign ministry has already greeted “Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” calling them the “choice of the American people.”

The hostile move by China comes as the communist regime conducts backdoor diplomacy with Biden’s team. According to Chinese media reports earlier this month, Beijing has opened a “backchannel” with the Biden-Harris camp seeking to “reset” the relations with a potential Democrat-run White House and thereby undo President Donald Trump’s legacy on China.

The Hong-Kong daily South China Morning Post reported:

China’s commerce ministry said on Friday that it will impose temporary anti-dumping measures on Australian wine imports from Saturday.

The duties will range from 107.1 to 212.1 per cent, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday.

The commerce ministry said in a statement announcing the measures that “there is a causal relationship between [wine] dumping and material damage”.

China is the biggest destination for Australia‘s wine exports, accounting for 39 per cent of total shipments in the first nine months of 2020, according to Wine Australia, an industry body.

“This is a very distressing time for many hundreds of Australian wine producers, who have built, in good faith, a sound market in China,” Australia trade minister Simon Birmingham told Australia media on Friday.

“The Australian government will vigorously defend the industry,” agriculture minister David Littleproud said on Friday.

China’s increased hostilities towards Australia is more than posturing over commercial interests.

Beijing has been angry at Australia for its vocal criticism of the regime’s handling of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. In April, Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, threatened a boycott of Australian goods if Prime Minister Morrison’s government insisted on an independent inquiry into the origins and outbreak of the pandemic in central China.

China has also been enraged by Canberra’s support for the Asia-Pacific geopolitical and defense alliance forged under the leadership of President Trump. As The Washington Times noted in October, the Trump administration “floated the idea of developing the group into an “Asian NATO” in the face of China‘s growing economic and military might.”

The four-nation alliance has rattled Communist China, which is pursuing a policy of territorial expansion and military aggression in the region. Last month, Beijing renewed its threats to invade neighboring Taiwan. Beijing has consolidated its hold over artificial islands in the South China sea, encroaching into foreign waters. In May, Chinese military invaded India, occupying a strategic Himalayan valley. 

The Asia-Pacific alliance championed by President Trump has sought to contain Beijing’s growing imperialist ambitions. Under the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue initiative, popularly know as the Quad, the four-nation alliance of the U.S., Australia, Japan, and India has created a framework for security cooperation, including joint defense exercises and access to each others’ military and naval bases. 

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