Abacus | China-Australia clash may be more about Beijing’s economic fears than a coronavirus probe

Name: Australia seeks WTO mediation on China barley tariffs
Uploaded: 2021-01-24T23:00:12.000Z
Duration: 2 min 1 s
Description: Australia seeks WTO mediation on China barley tariffs

China is doing to Australia what the Brits did to China with tea 200 years ago, when China learned a hard lesson about spending too much hard currency

With iron ore mines in Africa and a port in Papua, China is falling back on its own ‘empire’, perhaps out of fears its economic strength is a post-Covid blip

Reading Time:5 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

China may be about to tell Australia where to stick its opinions, and its iron ore. Photo: AFP

Neil Newman

Published: 7:00am, 25 Jan 2021Updated: 7:02am, 25 Jan 2021

FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA

When Britain first started to trade with China, neither nation knew much about the other. Britain had just started to import tea, which would leave Brits forever hooked on the morning cuppa as an alcohol-free alternative to the “small beer” that was drunk regularly throughout the day at the time.

But England-China trade was a tricky affair in the 17th and 18th centuries. Canton was the only trade port, only “trusted” partners were traded with, and only very select goods were allowed in – such as clocks, porcelain, music boxes and later drugs. Goods for exports, such as tea, were only bestowed upon lesser nations with the few imports being seen as tributes to China.

This system worked for around 130 years, until Britain ran out of silver in 1770. To keep the flow of tea going, Britain demanded silver back as payment for medicinal opium, “the sleep bringer”, which was in widespread use among Chinese. Cutting history many decades and two wars short, a trade imbalance resulted which drained China of silver and devastated its economy resulting in a 30-year economic decline, the Daoguang Depression (1820–1850).

Around that time, the Brits also worked out that they could grow their own tea in Sri Lanka – Ceylon at the time – and India, so bringing trade back within the Empire and reducing their reliance on China became a priority. Looking at the Australia-China trade spat that kicked off last year, I suspect history may be about to stage a replay.

02:01

Australia seeks WTO mediation on China barley tariffs

STRANDED LOBSTERS

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x