China, Australia Trade Spat Could Backfire on Beijing

China’s economic offensive against Australia is partly designed to warn countries against vocally opposing Beijing’s interests, particularly with Joe Biden looking to unite U.S. allies. Yet it’s already showing signs of backfiring.

China last week imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 212% on Australian wine, the latest in a slew of measures curbing imports from coal to copper to barley. Tensions escalated further on Monday after a Chinese Foreign Ministry official tweeted a fake photo of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison quickly called on China to apologize for the “repugnant” tweet. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, in turn, questioned whether he lacks “a sense of right and wrong” and said overall ties deteriorated because Australia “took wrong measures on issues bearing on China’s core interests.”

To Beijing, the attacks on Australia are meant to deter others like Canada, the European Union and Japan from joining a U.S.-led campaign to counter China’s rise. Communist Party officials see Morrison’s government as one of their most vocal critics, and an easy target: China accounts for about 35% of Australia’s total trade, three times more than the next highest country, Japan. Australia accounts for less than 4% of China’s commerce.

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