Australia would seek to be included in consultations about a trade dispute between the EU and China launched by the EU at the WYO, Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan said yesterday.
Thursday’s EU challenge accuses China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania, saying they threatened the integrity of the single market.
“Australia has a substantial interest in the issues raised in the dispute brought by the European Union against China ... and will request to join these consultations,” Tehan said in a statement.
China has downgraded ties with Lithuania and pushed firms to sever links with the Baltic nation of 2.8 million people after it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius.
Its strictures include a refusal to clear Lithuanian goods through Chinese customs, rejection of import applications from Lithuania and pressure on EU firms to remove Lithuanian content from supply chains when exporting to China.
Relations between Australia and China, its top trade partner, soured after Canberra banned Huawei Technologies from its 5G broadband network in 2018, toughened laws against foreign political interference and urged an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
Beijing responded by freezing ministerial contacts and imposing tariffs on several Australian commodities, such as coal, beef, barley and wine.
Australia has filed two WTO complaints in the past 18 months over China’s duties on imports of bottled wine and barley.
The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday said that the Australian government “welcomes” an invitation from France to take part in a meeting of Indo-Pacific foreign ministers next month.
“Australia greatly values cooperation with France and with Europe, including in the Indo-Pacific,” it said in an e-mailed statement, without saying if Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne would attend.
Australia’s relations with France, which holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council, have also soured after Canberra signed a security pact last year with the UK and the US, dubbed AUKUS, scrapping a multibillion-dollar submarine deal with France.
The pact, widely viewed as an attempt to shore up regional military muscle in the face of China’s growing presence, riled Beijing, but also caused fury in France.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
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A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
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