After Australia dared last spring to call for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, China began quietly blocking one import after another from Australia — coal, wine, barley and cotton — in violation of free-trade norms. Then this month, with no clear explanation, China left $3 million worth of Australian rock lobsters dying in Shanghai customs.
Bilateral tensions between China and Australia are unlikely to jeopardise the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAfta) when it is up for its five-year review next month, trade experts said.
China has issued Australian media with a list of 14 grievances that have “poisoned” bilateral relations, including Canberra blocking Chinese investments, Australian politicians slandering Beijing and alleged racist attacks on Chinese and Asian citizens.
As much as China’s officials claim that the delays on Australian exports are in line with quality procedures, anti-dumping regulations and quotas, the now-famed list of “14 grievances” tell another story.
The Chinese embassy’s list of irritations was lengthy, spanning concerns from foreign investment decisions to unfriendly media reporting.
“President Xi [Jinping] explicitly declared that China will favourably consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Australia is an important CPTPP member. This shows China is still interested in connecting with Australia,” University of Sydney ChAFTA expert Jeanne Huang said.
Despite the free-trade commitment between the two countries, China and Australia have not been getting on politically, at least not since 2017 when Canberra started to push for a closer alliance with the United States. This was exacerbated earlier this year when Australia pushed for an inquiry on the origins of the coronavirus without first consulting Beijing.
While Australia’s actions, including banning 5G technology from Huawei Technologies Co., are viewed as reasonable by former diplomats, it is the lack of diplomacy in executing the decisions that led to China’s grievances, they said.
This has erupted into a series of Chinese trade bans against Australia exports including coal, cotton and lobsters and anti-dumping investigations and duties against barley and wine.
Whether or not the ChAFTA review goes ahead next month, the most likely outcome will be both countries keeping the status quo of the trade deal, trade experts said.
RCEP, though, will still be safe should China and Australia cancel their free trade agreement as bilateral deals do not impinge on RCEP, said University of New South Wales trade expert Heng Wang.
