Australia yesterday threatened to take China to the WTO to counter a fresh round of punitive sanctions, as the two countries clashed over an investigation into the origins and spread of COVID-19.
Canberra said that it might seek remedial action to overturn almost 81 percent in tariffs on barley exports — the latest in a series of Chinese sanctions that many believe are politically motivated.
Beijing on Monday announced the measures — earmarked to last five years — after finding that Australian subsidies and dumping had “substantially damaged domestic industry.”
Both sides have insisted that barley is a technical trade issue, and Australian officials have played down fears of a trade dispute.
“To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement,” Australian Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud said. “This is something that we will strongly reject, the premise that the Australian barley farmer is subsidized in any way, shape or form.”
“We will now work through the determination by Chinese officials, calmly and methodically, and reserve our right to go to the World Trade Organisation to get the independent umpire to make that determination,” Littleproud said.
The move has worsened a relationship that has become increasingly troubled as Beijing has become more assertive in flexing its growing military, economic and diplomatic power in the Asia-Pacific region.
Beijing reacted with fury to Australia’s recent calls for an independent investigation into the origins and spread of COVID-19 from an initial outbreak in China’s central Hubei Province.
In response, the Chinese ambassador in Canberra threatened a widespread consumer boycott of Australian products — a warning followed up by a bar on imports from four major Australian beef producers.
Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said that Australia would not retaliate against China.
“We don’t pursue our trade policies on a tit-for-tat basis. We will continue to operate as we always do,” he said.
A joint statement from five Australian grain growers’ organizations said that the dispute was likely to halt exports to China, costing the industry at least A$500 million (US$327 million) a year.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not