By Elishya Perera
SYDNEY, Australia (CWBN)_ Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused China of breaching international trade rules over the reported ban on Australian coal imports.
The Global Times on Sunday (Dec 13) reported that China is restricting coal imports from Australia and prioritising imports from Mongolia, Indonesia and Russia. “China’s top economic planner on Saturday gave approval to power plants to import coal without clearance restrictions, except for Australia, in a bid to stabilize coal purchase prices,” it said.
The state media outlet reported that according to Wang Yongzhong, director of the Institute of Energy Economy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Australia is gradually losing the Chinese market as relations between the trade partners has been deteriorating.
Nevertheless, Morrison said such a ban would be in breach of WTO rules as well as China’s free trade agreement with Australia, and hence, the government is seeking clarification from Beijing on this regard.
Following Morrison’s call for an investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic which emerged from Wuhan, Beijing slapped Canberra with economic sanctions which has disrupted Australia’s agricultural and resources exports.
However, the Prime Minister claimed that it was correct to stand up for the country’s liberal democratic values, and challenged critics to determine “which one of Australia’s national sovereign interests … the government should have traded away” to appease the communist superpower.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said that the reported ban on Australian coal was consistent with “a pattern of disruption in relation to Australian coal” that has seen bulk loaders stranded off Chinese ports.
Last month, it was reported that ships laden with Australian coal worth more than $500 million, were stranded at sea, while waiting to enter Chinese ports, which raised concern that Australian coal may be targeted as part of a range of trade actions taken by Beijing over the course of this year.
Nevertheless, the Trade Minister argued that import restrictions would harm Beijing since Australian coal was “around 1.5 times more efficient in terms of energy production than most other competitor nations, including Chinese domestic coal”.
