Australia rejects Chinese 'economic coercion' threat amid planned coronavirus probe

By Kirsty Needham

 

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne speaks during a news conference at Australian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, January 10, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has cautioned China against attempts at “economic coercion” as Australia pushes for an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic that China opposes.

 

Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said in a newspaper interview on Monday the “Chinese public” could avoid Australian products and universities.

 

Australia last week called for all members of the World Health Organization (WHO) to support an independent review into the origins and spread of the coronavirus, and is lobbying world leaders.

 

China’s foreign ministry has attacked the proposal.

 

“Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?” Cheng said in the interview published on the front page of The Australian Financial Review.

 

Cheng said it was possible that tourists may have “second thoughts” about visiting Australia.

 

“The parents of the students would also think ... whether this is the best place to send their kids,” he added.

 

After energy exports, education and tourism are Australia’s biggest export industries, with China the largest market.

 

Payne said in a statement on Monday that Australia had made a “principled call” for an independent review of the COVID-19 outbreak which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

 

“We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global cooperation,” Payne said.

 

China is the largest export market for Australian wine and beef. During strained diplomatic relations with China in 2018, Australian wine faced import delays in China and some Australian beef exports were also previously suspended for a period.

 

The Chinese embassy in Australia has previously warned Chinese students about what it said were safety risks in travelling to Australia.

 

Payne said an “honest assessment” of the pandemic would seek to strengthen the WHO’s role.

 

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang dismissed calls for an investigation during a daily briefing in Beijing, though not commenting specifically about Australia.

 

“China is the first country to report a COVID case, but it doesn’t mean the virus originated in China,” he told reporters.

 

“Some people are trying to hype up the so-called investigation that is inconsistent with an international atmosphere of cooperation and their political manoeuvring will not succeed.”

 

The novel coronavirus has infected 2.97 million people worldwide and killed more than 205,000, a Reuters tally shows.

 

For a country-by-country interactive COVID-19 tracker, see: tmsnrt.rs/2WZPuOh

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-27

 

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10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

“China is the first country to report a COVID case, but it doesn’t mean the virus originated in China,” he told reporters.

that attitude is all you need to know dealing with them; nothing about 'we will look into it', 'our studies show...',; 'we can prove that the usa did it'; we all just wish the chinese were so unchinese

Edited April 27, 20206 yr by YetAnother

34 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said in a newspaper interview on Monday the “Chinese public” could avoid Australian products and universities

I'm sure right now there must be a lot of consumers worldwide thinking exactly the same about Chinese products.

The industry of Chinese students attending Australian universities is not a favour China is bestowing on Australia. It is done because it's a good economical solution for Chinese students wanting to study abroad.

 

It's the same situation with beef, wine and other exports etc. They buy it because it's good and reasonably priced.

 

The Chinese travel there because they want to see Australia, not because they are doing Australia a favour.

 

That was a very good response today by the Australian Foreign Minister. I hope they don't give in to this coercion. Hopefully the rest of the world will follow Australia's lead and put more pressure on China and the WHO.

 

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?”

because the beef is preferable to some of the creatures often found in the pot in China .? 

Don't give the CCP a thousandth of an inch. Full, relentless pressure until they collapse.

Great news - proud that there are Aussie politicians willing to stand up and be counted, and refuse to buckle under China's coercion.  I have seen quite a few stories about China's response to many claims they are liable and should be investigated, and not one, not a single one, says something like: 'China is willing to cooperate with an investigation and we will show that China acted correctly and did not conceal any information'.  And I doubt I will ever see one. 

Huffing and puffing by the CCP. They know Australian goods and services are the cheapest and best they can get, and would be cutting off their noses to spite their face. Summon the Chinese Ambassador in, and tell him to give his masters in Beijing that message.

Way to go Australia!  Proud of you. We need the whole world to start standing up to China's lies and economic aggression. Time to start relocating more industries out of China as well.

“China is the first country to report a COVID case, but it doesn’t mean the virus originated in China,” he told reporters.

 

That says it all about China.  Refuse to accept any form of responsibility.  You won't get any apology for the hundreds of thousands of deaths, financial collapse, suffering and suicides because of the Wuhan virus and Chinese authorities refusing to close down outgoing flights and alert the world in time.  

 

Hard times ahead for Australia. If Morrison somehow thinks  other countries will join his ongoing crusade against the Chinese he's nuts. China found imports to replace those from the USA that they had imposed  retaliatory tariffs against in very short order. It's a good time to short the $Au.

7 minutes ago, pegman said:

Hard times ahead for Australia. If Morrison somehow thinks  other countries will join his ongoing crusade against the Chinese he's nuts. China found imports to replace those from the USA that they had imposed  retaliatory tariffs against in very short order. It's a good time to short the $Au.

So they will import all the iron ore from Canada ?

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Cheng said it was possible that tourists may have “second thoughts” about visiting Australia.

Promise? Good riddance!

 

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?”

Continue to eat rats and bats then! Seems to be no shortage at the Wuhan wet markets!

 

 

Edited April 27, 20206 yr by PatOngo

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“The parents of the students would also think ... whether this is the best place to send their kids,” he added.

 

I mentioned a few times in this forum about China and here it goes again. They are living in cocoon. Sending their kids to the first world for education is their benefit at other countries tax payers' expense. But their mentality is opposite, even my possible lady is the same way. All the undeveloped countries including Taiwan and Korea became the advanced countries by sending their kids to America for advanced study. There were 500 graduate Taiwanese students in 1980 at one of Texas university while I attended. Taiwan was just emerging from poverty at that time. Something to think about.   

6 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I'm sure right now there must be a lot of consumers worldwide thinking exactly the same about Chinese products.

Let's hope!

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

China’s foreign ministry has attacked the proposal.

Like a Vietnamese or Filipino fishing boat in the South China Sea!

 

 

Edited April 27, 20206 yr by PatOngo

49 minutes ago, pegman said:

Hard times ahead for Australia. If Morrison somehow thinks  other countries will join his ongoing crusade against the Chinese he's nuts. China found imports to replace those from the USA that they had imposed  retaliatory tariffs against in very short order. It's a good time to short the $Au.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Trump will be making demands alongside AU before November, if it plays to his voting base. Let's see if the US consumer is smart enough to shun Made in China.

Answer: The People's Republic of China

 

Question: What is the greatest threat to the world for the foreseeable future.

 

If you don't understand this, you haven't been paying attention- even a little bit.

Edited April 27, 20206 yr by idiot farang

1 hour ago, timendres said:

You can bet your bottom dollar that Trump will be making demands alongside AU before November, if it plays to his voting base. Let's see if the US consumer is smart enough to shun Made in China.

Trump will be demanding China buy beef from his base cattle ranchers to replace boycotted Australian meat. If the American consumer hasn't shunned Chinese goods till now why in hell will they start now? Walmart didn't become what it is today by being  patriotic. Same can be said for Apple and their Chinese supply chain.  Australia is on its own.  Recovery will be long and hard without China buying its exports. 

Quote

Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, said in a newspaper interview on Monday the “Chinese public” could avoid Australian products and universities.

Typically disrespectful, small penile superiority complex response from the CCP mouthpiece in Oz. Yuck. There's been similar murmurings among UK MPs to have them investigated. Whole world needs to start distancing itself from the place. Screw the cost. I'd happily pay more for products made anywhere but. Stick it up em Aussie! 

 

11 minutes ago, pegman said:

Trump will be demanding China buy beef from his base cattle ranchers to replace boycotted Australian meat. If the American consumer hasn't shunned Chinese goods till now why in hell will they start now? Walmart didn't become what it is today by being  patriotic. Same can be said for Apple and their Chinese supply chain.  Australia is on its own.  Recovery will be long and hard without China buying its exports. 

Sounds like one has vested interests. Better pull your factory out, bro, it ain't looking good.

3 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

So they will import all the iron ore from Canada ?

Think you'll find they,'re recolonizing africa.

1 hour ago, pegman said:

Trump will be demanding China buy beef from his base cattle ranchers to replace boycotted Australian meat. If the American consumer hasn't shunned Chinese goods till now why in hell will they start now? Walmart didn't become what it is today by being  patriotic. Same can be said for Apple and their Chinese supply chain.  Australia is on its own.  Recovery will be long and hard without China buying its exports. 

 

Trump will be hoping there's enough beef and chicken and pork to feed Americans when the whole supply chain collapses.

 

Google Tyson for the whole story...

 

Chinese have shown they are more than just irresponsible...they purposely let the virus spread to other countries...had they been honest and stopped all travel to and from the epicenter city...likely only China would have suffered a severe economic meltdown...

 

IMHO they made a calculated decision to put all the world at risk so they would not be the only country to suffer...

4 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

So they will import all the iron ore from Canada ?

Not all but with the north-west passage being ice free for longer periods each year  Labrador and Quebec have a lot of reserves that could meet some of the demand.  Russia and Brazil, among others, will be happy to sell their ore to China too. 

6 hours ago, pegman said:

Hard times ahead for Australia. If Morrison somehow thinks  other countries will join his ongoing crusade against the Chinese he's nuts. China found imports to replace those from the USA that they had imposed  retaliatory tariffs against in very short order. It's a good time to short the $Au.

As can everyone find replacements for chinas faulty projects. 

prime scotch fillet export quality steak has dropped from $30 a kg to $20 a kg here in Australia in the past couple of weeks. We now have a oversupply of the stuff. 

12 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

because the beef is preferable to some of the creatures often found in the pot in China .? 

Went to a "whole of cow" restaurant in China. Plenty of offal in the pot but precious little of any real meat.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?” Cheng said in the interview published on the front page of The Australian Financial Review.

 

Cheng said it was possible that tourists may have “second thoughts” about visiting Australia.

 

“The parents of the students would also think ... whether this is the best place to send their kids,” he added.

The irony of this is quite staggering.  Does the Chinese Govt expect us to believe that the 'ordinary people' get to make choices on what they eat or where they go?  

This is simply a statement on what will be the Chinese Govt response to Australia's call for an independent review.  If they have nothing to hide they should not fear an independent review; they certainly shouldn't be making economic threats to stop it happening.

6 hours ago, pegman said:

Trump will be demanding China buy beef from his base cattle ranchers to replace boycotted Australian meat. If the American consumer hasn't shunned Chinese goods till now why in hell will they start now? Walmart didn't become what it is today by being  patriotic. Same can be said for Apple and their Chinese supply chain.  Australia is on its own.  Recovery will be long and hard without China buying its exports. 

Agree. America will pick up beef, wheat and other agricultural exports that Australia will lose, 100% guaranteed.

Australia is in this mess due to the governments UN envoked policies. They should have restricted ALL foreign investment of land, resources and infrastructures long ago.