Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told the Senate of the Australian Federal Parliament on December 9 that China’s “damaging and restrictive measures” against Australian exports are in breach of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Birmingham attended a hearing that day at the request of the Senate to explain issues relating to the ChAFTA. At the hearing, Birmingham said the Australian government is “increasingly concerned about the range of trade disruptive and restrictive measures imposed by the Chinese government on a wide range of goods from Australia. These disruptions, he said, “have increased significantly in recent months. He continued, “The Australian government believes that the targeted nature of the measures taken by the Chinese government against Australian goods has raised concerns about China’s compliance with the letter and spirit of its obligations under the Australia-China FTA and the World Trade Organization.”
Birmingham said Australia has raised these concerns with Chinese officials on several occasions in Canberra and Beijing, and expressed its claims at the Nov. 25 WTO Council for Trade in Goods. The goods are said to relate to Australian exports of barley, wine, meat and dairy companies, seafood exports, timber, coal and cotton. Birmingham said the Australia-China FTA includes a structure of regular meetings to establish an ongoing dialogue between the two countries, but that China’s lack of participation in this dialogue in recent years has prevented it from using these representations.
Birmingham said the Australian side will “continue to raise issues of apparent potential or discriminatory actions against Australia” and is “considering all means of dispute resolution to support our exporters and ensure they are able to compete on fair terms,” including Challenge through the WTO. In response to this, the Chinese Embassy in Australia released a statement by its spokesperson on its website on the same day, saying that the Australian Trade Minister’s recent allegation that China was not complying with the China-Australia FTA was unfounded. According to the statement, we hope that the Australian side will do more in the interest of China-Australia mutual trust and cooperation, and in line with the spirit of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership, so as to push China-Australia relations back onto the right track as soon as possible.
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