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China trade
EconomyChina Economy

India takes aim at China’s alleged trade coercion against Australia: ‘if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck’

  • Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar makes pointed comments about Beijing’s ‘politically influenced’ decision-making, two years into trade dispute with Canberra
  • Border clash between China and India was also discussed at meeting of the Quad regional partnership on Friday

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India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has criticised China for its alleged economic coercion of Australia. Photo: Reuters
Bloomberg

India’s foreign minister has criticised China for its alleged economic coercion of Australia, in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, saying progress and prosperity over the past 80 years was the result of a trading system “governed by rules and not politically influenced”.

Canberra’s ties with China, Australia’s largest trading partner, have nosedived since early 2020 when Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. Beijing retaliated with trade restrictions, including high tariffs on Australian barley and wine, and by slowing coal shipments.

When asked by the paper whether Beijing’s actions toward Canberra constituted economic coercion, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said: “You know that bit – if it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck.”

The Chinese government has denied using trade coercion against Australia and other countries, with foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian insisting on Tuesday that China “always follows WTO rules”.

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Jaishankar travelled to Melbourne, Australia, in the past week for a meeting of the Quad, a regional partnership made up of India, Japan, Australia and the United States that is intended to help democracies coordinate their response to the rise of China.

Jaishankar said the Quad had all agreed that “politics should not be conducted by coercion at any time”.

At the meeting on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Quad to take a tougher stance toward the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged antagonism in the region, but added that he did not consider war with Beijing inevitable. Jaishankar said the clash between India and China on their shared border had been discussed at the meeting.
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