China-Australia relations: Canberra denies ‘playing the victim’ in trade dispute with Beijing

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan was responding to an editorial in the Global Times that accused him of appearing ‘to be pulling another publicity stunt’

Preliminary data last week showed that Australia’s total goods exported to China reached A$145.2 billion (US$110.9 billion) in 2020, just 2.16 per cent less than in 2019

3-MIN READ3-MIN

99+

Dan Tehan replaced Simon Birmingham as Australia trade minister during a cabinet reshuffle at the end of last year. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 12:59pm, 2 Feb 2021Updated: 12:59pm, 2 Feb 2021

Trade Minister Dan Tehan has denied Australia is “playing the victim” in its relationship with China amid their ongoing trade dispute.

Tehan was responding to an editorial on Monday in China’s nationalist tabloid, the Global Times, that said Australia appeared “to be pulling another publicity stunt” and “publicly whining” after the minister said he had not received a reply to a letter he sent to China’s new commerce minister, Wang Wentao, last month.

Having replaced Simon Birmingham as trade minister during a cabinet reshuffle at the end of last year, Tehan’s overture came at a time when relations between China and Australia are significantly strained after a dispute that began to deteriorate in April last year.

I think it would be great if we could have a trade ministers meeting to talk through our differences and make sure where we have those mutually beneficial relationships that we can discuss ways in which we can improve that

Dan Tehan

“There was a change in commerce minister in China, and what I’ve done is I’ve reached out and I wrote a very detailed letter to him welcoming him on his new appointment and just saying that I was very keen to have a constructive engagement with him because there are lots of areas where we have mutual benefit in our relationship, and so I wanted to work with him and also wanted to work through these issues that we have with these current trade disputes,” Tehan told Sydney’s 2GB radio station on Tuesday.

“It’s over three years, nearly three and a half years, since we have had an official trade ministers meeting with China and that is something I think we should be seeking to address and I think it would be great if we could have a trade ministers meeting to talk through our differences and make sure where we have those mutually beneficial relationships that we can discuss ways in which we can improve that.”

The China and Australia relationship has soured in the past year after Canberra pushed for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic without consulting Beijing. In early November, China unofficially banned Australian imports of coal, sugar, barley, lobsters, wine, copper and log timber.

Although final export figures have yet to be confirmed, based on preliminary data released last week, Australia’s total goods exported to China last year reached A$145.2 billion (US$110.9 billion), just 2.16 per cent less than 2019’s A$148.4 billion, which was the highest recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics since 1988.