After long dispute: China lifts tariffs on Australian wine

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The reason given was “changes in the market situation of the wines in question in China”. The People’s Republic imposed tariffs on the key Australian agricultural product in 2021 after the Canberra government called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in China and banned Chinese tech group Huawei from building a 5G network in Australia. China has also imposed crackdowns on other Australian products such as lobster.

This was preceded by a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Australia last week, where tariffs were discussed. This opens up one of the most important markets for Australia’s wine producers, from which they earned the equivalent of €645 million in 2019. Previously, wines from Australia were sometimes charged surcharges of more than 200 percent. As a result, the industry lost huge amounts of money and Beijing clamped down on tariff regulations.

Relations between Canberra and Beijing have long been tense. Many of the controversial issues have reinforced the Chinese leadership’s view that Australia is helping the United States slow the rise of the People’s Republic.

There were slight signs of relief when China released journalist Cheng Lei. The Chinese-Australian worked for China’s state-owned foreign broadcaster CGTN and was sentenced to several years in prison for reportedly revealing state secrets. Recently, the death sentence of writer Yang Hengjun, who also has an Australian passport, brought unrest to the relationship again. Chinese authorities found him guilty of espionage. It was stated that the sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

Australia also relaxed economic measures against China. It was revealed that Canberra had lifted anti-dumping measures against Chinese wind turbines before Wang’s visit.

(SDA)

Source :Blick