Coronavirus: China-Australia relationship at risk from Covid-19 blame game, mining magnate warns

Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest says finger-pointing at Australia-based Chinese companies for shipping face masks to China was ‘un-Australian’

China is Australia’s largest export destination, but a row has exploded over the Australian government’s push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak

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Since January, when the outbreak was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, shipments of personal protection equipment to Australia from China have been “many times” more than those heading in the opposite direction, according to Andrew Forrest. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:30am, 5 May 2020Updated: 1:33pm, 5 May 2020

The relationship between China and Australia is one of the “most important” in the world, but it could be put at risk by the erupting blame games over the coronavirus, Australian billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest has warned.

Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, one of the largest iron ore suppliers to China, said Australia’s finger-pointing at Australia-based Chinese companies for shipping face masks to China earlier this year was “un-Australian.”

His comments came just as a new diplomatic row exploded between the two countries over the Australian government’s push for an independent international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, an effort Beijing has blasted as a political manoeuvre to smear China.

“Pandemics start anywhere and their origins are not an important statistic,” Forrest said in an interview with the South China Morning Post, in reference to humanitarian aid. “Covid-19 is an opportunity for the world to work together.”

Andrew Forrest is the chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, one of the largest iron ore suppliers to China. Photo: EPA-EFE

China has given Australia a great deal of help in its fight to control Covid-19, particularly providing supplies of medical equipment, he said, taking issue with reports to the contrary.