Aug 31: China continues with its double pronged strategies of crying foul when countries like the US impose duties on imports from China or countries like India threaten to ban imports of products and technology like 5G into India but bares its Dragon Fangs when a country like Australia dares it to disclose details of origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan, by launching second investigation into alleged government subsidies of some Australian wine imports today, a couple of weeks after it had announced an anti-dumping drive, writes Subhash Arora
According to a Report by Reuters, China launched an investigation on August 31into alleged government subsidies of some Australian wine imports, a widely expected follow-up to an earlier anti-dumping probe. China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement that it would also investigate about 37 Australian wine subsidy schemes following a request from the China Wine Industry Association.
This second investigation, which would also take up to a year, would look into Australian support measures including “farm risk management”, a “farm financing loan scheme” and “business growth funding projects”, the commerce ministry said. The Australians have said they will oppose the move.
China had imposed tariffs of 80% on Australian barley in May this year following accusations that the grain was being exported at a loss and dumped into the Chinese local market. If also suspended beef imports from the big abattoirs, before starting an investigation into dumping of Australian wine.
This because Australian Prime Minister had called for an international inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, which was first detected in Wuhan, China and the government allegedly tried to hush up the incident for a few weeks, resulting in the worst global pandemic in a century.
Rejecting the claims Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says, ‘We strongly refute claims that initiatives like the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Development Program, or programs that support R & D translate into a subsidy of our wine exports.’ He was referring to the scheme where the government buys water to improve the health of key waterways. The government has assured full support to the wine producers, he said, ‘The government will work with our internationally renowned wine industry to mount the strongest possible case against these claims.’
China has been the biggest market for Australian wine exports and is also its largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion ($170 billion) last year. Over 60% of the total Aussie wine production is exported to Australia.
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Genesis of Wine Export from Australia to China (Part 1)
Subhash Arora
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