After long dispute: China ends tariffs on Australian wine Eight-year-old gets sucked into a pipe in a US hotel pool and dies

In the long-fraught relationship between China and Australia, Beijing has lifted tariffs on Australian wine that have existed for years. From Friday, no countervailing duties will be levied on wine from Australia, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Thursday.

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

This was preceded by a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Australia last week, during which the tariffs were discussed. This opens up one of the most important markets for Australian wine producers, earning them the equivalent of €645 million in 2019. Previously, wines from Australia sometimes had a surcharge of more than 200 percent. The industry lost a lot of money as a result and Beijing exerted pressure with tariff regulation.

Ups and downs in relationships

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

There were signs of slight relaxation when China released journalist Cheng Lei. The Chinese-Australian worked for the Chinese foreign state broadcaster CGTN and was imprisoned for several years for allegedly revealing state secrets. Recently, the death sentence against writer Yang Hengjun, who also has an Australian passport, once again caused unrest in the relationship. The Chinese authorities found him guilty of espionage. The sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

Australia also relaxed economic measures targeting China. Before Wang’s visit, it was revealed that Canberra had dropped an anti-dumping measure against Chinese wind turbines. (saw/sda/awp/dpa)