The Australian government and opposition have found common ground as Australia’s concerns over potential “tit-for-tat” trade wars instigated by the US increase.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and Minister for Trade Steve Ciobo have spoken of their growing discomfort with events in global trade after the US promised to add US$34 billion worth of tariffs against China from July 6 and flagged another US$16 billion down the track.
On Saturday China responded to the US tariffs by announcing 25 percent tariffs on US$50 billion in US goods, including agricultural produce, autos and seafood.
In a statement on its Web site, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said: “China is unwilling to have a trade war, but the Chinese side has no choice but to strongly oppose this, due to the United States’ myopic behavior that will harm both parties.”
It also called on other countries to “take collective action” against this “outdated and backwards behavior.”
Speaking on the Australian Broadcasting Co’s Insiders program yesterday morning, Australian Senator Penny Wong said that the US’ decision was “a bad thing, a very negative development.”
“It is a negative development because it strikes at the integrity of the world trading system, which has served the world well, which has ensure disputes are managed and contained, which has ensured that we don’t get into escalating economic fights,” she said.
“I think it is a negative thing because trade, conflict in the trading relationship, risks some instability in the broader bilateral relationship,” Wong added.
She said that Australia’s two major parties shared the same views on the importance of trading relationships and that “we have to continue to assert why the trading system matters and we have to continue to try and ensure that this doesn’t escalate.”
On Saturday, Bishop said that she was concerned over the “tit-for-tat” nature of the trade measures, but said Australia had made its position clear.
“It is of concern and Australia will continue to advocate for free and open trade and investment because that is of great benefit to our country and free trade has benefitted the world,” she said.
Ciobo said that the tariffs would “provide a further drag on global growth,” adding that one-third of Australia’s GDP growth had come from growing the export market in Singapore, China and Japan.
Wong and Bishop recently returned from a bipartisan trip to the Pacific islands, where Australia is working to establish its place as the region’s No. 1 ally after concerns over Beijing’s attempts at “soft diplomacy” through infrastructure projects and concessional loans began to grow.
The nation’s foreign aid budget was frozen for the coming year, but just more than US$1 billion of about US$4 billion allocated for aid will be spent in the Pacific, while Australia is also majority-funding a telecommunications cable to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea after security officials raised concerns over China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd being awarded the original contract.
Wong said that she would not discuss Australia’s security advice, but said that China “doesn’t have the same separation between government and the economy, government and the community that we assume.”
With the parliament set to pass foreign interference and anti-spying laws in the coming weeks after the Australian Labor Party indicated that it would support the amended legislation, Wong said she believed it was possible for Australia to stand up for its sovereignty “without being offensive, without hyperbole and without exaggeration.”
“I think being responsible, having some wisdom, having some judgment, having some tact in how you talk about some of these issues is important and also being precise,” she said.
“For example, some of the debates around foreign investment, more generally at times, I think has been problematic. I think we ... should remember we are a country that has always benefitted greatly from the rise of China,” she said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was