Australian cattle producer and beef exporter Robert Mackenzie is concerned that rising political tensions between Beijing and Canberra could hurt his meat export relations with China, which he has spent five years cultivating.
Australia warns China against ‘economic coercion’ over coronavirus probeSydney milk and seafood exporter Tyler Ye also said he has not seen his Chinese consumers change their minds, but fears it would not be long before they turned their backs on Australian products, referencing a separate incident when Australian MP George Christensen wanted to take back land owned by Chinese firms as compensation for the coronavirus outbreak.
China-Australia relations have been wearing thin over the years, but it hit a low this week over Canberra’s push for the independent international inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak, an effort Beijing has blasted as a political manoeuvre to smear China. On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy fired back, accusing the Australian side of breaching diplomatic protocol first as news of the phone call had appeared in Australian media. Although Trade Minister Simon Birmingham earlier confirmed that a phone call had taken place, he did not go into details about the nature of the conversation.
James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute in Sydney, said the spat was “quite unprecedented” but he remained confident the sides would ultimately keep a constructive relationship intact.