Fact-CheckChina-Australia relations: do Beijing’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation claims hold up?

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin claims that Australia has launched 106 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations against China

He also said that China had only initiated four investigations against Australian goods

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Two-way trade between China and Australia is worth around A$240 billion (US$171 billion), while China buys around 39 per cent of Australia’s merchandise exports. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:30am, 16 Nov 2020Updated: 11:33am, 16 Nov 2020

China earlier this month made one of its strongest public comments to date about its ongoing conflict with Australia, its largest Asia-Pacific trading partner.

Two-way trade between China and Australia is worth around A$240 billion (US$171 billion), with China buying around 39 per cent of Australia’s merchandise exports.

But since Canberra pushed in April for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, the conflict between the two countries has escalated with a series of trade actions from China against Australian products. It has also spread into non-trade areas.

Between China and Australia, which country is breaching the principles of market economy and the bilateral free trade agreement?

Wang Wenbin

Since April, there have been a series of trade actions from China against Australian products including a new anti-dumping duty on barley, suspensions of beef exports, and the slowing down of coal purchases.

While these were backed by investigations or provable trade breaches, the most recent wave of actions from China were more opaque including the verbal suspension in November of seven Australian products, namely barley, coal, log timber, copper, wine, sugar and lobsters.

What did China claim?

On November 6, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin provided an update on the latest suspension of Australian products.