CHINA’S BIG PARTY
Life’s a beach in Wuhan as world pays virus price
IT’S party time in China’s virus epicentre Wuhan with thousands flocking to a pool party as the Communist regime continued to exact revenge on Australia over the pandemic fallout.
Beijing has hit Aussie winemakers with an anti-dumping investigation threatening $1 billion in wine exports.
Battered by drought, bushfires and now COVID-19, NSW winemakers were yesterday in shock after Beijing accused them of flooding the Chinese market, a claim the federal Government has vowed to fight.
And salt was rubbed in wounds for local businesses struggling to survive coronavirus restrictions when pictures emerged of thousands of Chinese people enjoying a pool party in the city that gave the world the pandemic.
CHINA has hit Australian winemakers with a “deeply troubling” anti-dumping investigation threatening $1bn in wine exports while the post-coronavirus party rages on at ground zero in Wuhan.
Battered by drought, bushfires and now COVID-19, NSW winemakers were yesterday in shock after Beijing accused them of flooding the Chinese market, a claim the federal Government has vowed to fight.
And salt was rubbed in wounds for local businesses struggling to survive coronavirus restrictions yesterday when pictures emerged of thousands of Chinese people enjoying a pool party and performers in the very city that gave the world the pandemic.
China‘s Commerce Ministry announced a one-year investigation to assess if Australian exporters are dumping bottled wine into the Chinese market, and may explore claims of unfair government subsidies. It follows Chinese tariffs on Australian barley and bans on beef shipments from several producers.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said the accusations were “deeply troubling and quite perplexing”.
“Australian wine is by no means subsidised, it is by no means sold at or below anything other than market rates in the world market,” he said.
“Our government will stand with the Australian wine industry to uphold their integrity and hard-earned reputation for producing wines in high demand throughout the world.”
About 37 per cent of all wine exported from Australia ends up in China, generating more than $1.07bn a year.
Richard Harkham of Harkham Wines exports boutique wines to Hong Kong and said he hoped China did not impose tariffs on Australian product.
“It‘s very sad and all a very political tit-for-tat which I think is unfair. I hope this is just a threat. The wine industry has had a tough time,” Mr Harkham said.
“About 95 per cent of my grapes were damaged this year because of the smoke haze from the fires. We’ve had no tourism because of the bushfires and then coronavirus happened.”
Mr Harkham said he had no plans to export to the mainland Chinese market in
the future due to the volatile business landscape.
Hunter Valley winemaker Bruce Tyrrell, of Tyrrell’s Wines, said China‘s investigation would not only hurt Australians but also Chinese businesses who owned wineries in the region.
“China is our biggest market. There are a growing number of wineries and vineyards that are Chinese-owned … so they would be hurting their own people,” he said.
Mr Tyrrell said it was possible the attack on the wine industry was retaliation for the Australian government seeking an inquiry into China‘s handling of COVID-19.
“This is the way China does business; they did it to the barley guys for no reason. We will be exactly the same,” he said.
New England Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said it was hypocritical of Beijing to point the finger at Australia as a source of its economic hardship when the world was suffering due to the pandemic.
“China’s economy and the world’s economy would be in a lot better place if the Chinese Government had been … honest in their information and response in the first instance of the outbreak,” he said.
Mr Joyce said the wine dumping claim was a “rubbish”
excuse for what was clearly a political move.
“There’s no point playing this sort of childish game, it’s better to come out and say we’re angry because you’re not treating us with respect.”
As Australia is forced to deal with the latest economic threat from China, revellers in Wuhan are acting as if the pandemic is long over with thousands packing into a pool party. The images of people squeezed together are in stark contrast to Sydney’s pools which sit virtually empty amid the COVID restrictions.
In the city the Boy Charlton Pool is closed, while at Bondi Icebergs a 24 person limit has been imposed.
Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam said the fact life appeared to be “returning to normal” in Wuhan showed how disastrous Australia’s position was by comparison.
“Australia made the right decision” to pursue the inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus,” he said.
China’s handling of the outbreak originating in Wuhan has been continually criticised by high level officials in the US.
Last week US Health Secretary Alex Azar used a controversial visit to Taiwan to issue a scathing assessment of the Chinese Communist Party’s response in Wuhan.
“For a month-and-a-half they delayed allowing outside experts in to learn more about the nature of the disease,” he said. “(China) should have disclosed the asymptomatic carriage and transmission of the disease (sooner).”
In April China’s ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye warned the government its pursuit of a coronavirus inquiry could set off a boycott by Chinese consumers, who may not buy major exports including beef and wine.
China then slapped an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley exports after accusing growers of dumping into the market. Australia strongly denies the claim.