According to an opinion column in the Australian Financial Review, the relentless domestic focus on Australia’s recovery from COVID, Beijing’s determination to ramp up the economic costs of Australia’s approach to China is impossible to ignore.

From coal to barley to wine to beef to cotton, Australian exports are now at ever-increasing risk from Beijing’s threats.

AFR columnist Jennifer Hewett says China’s “blatantly punitive purpose is obscured by the rationale it is merely following global trade rules”.

Hewett writes China declares itself to be investigating possible Australian subsidies and local contaminants or blames normal customs delays and biased Western media reports of a “shadow trade war”. The real reasons are meant to be fully appreciated in Canberra.

Read the full article here. (Possible paywall)

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