Scott Morrison is prepared to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to mend a tense trade dispute simmering between the countries for months but warned Australia would not make concessions.
The Prime Minister said Canberra and Beijing viewed their links as important for the prosperity and security of both nations, and should work out their differences. We will remain absolutely open and available to meet, to discuss, any of the issues that have been identified, he said. But those discussions won t take place on the base of any sort of preemptive concessions on Australia s part on those matters.
China slapped an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley back in June, harming producers
A Chinese government spokesperson has denied knowing Australian coal exports worth $14billion have effectively been banned in the communist nation.
A meeting on Saturday between China s major power companies and the nation s top economic planning agency agreed to lift restrictions on coal imports from all countries except Australia, Chinese media reported.
In the first official comments from the Asian nation about the meeting, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was not aware of the ban and accused Australia of casting itself as a victim .
Mr Wang Wenbin (pictured) from China s foreign ministry said on Tuesday he was not aware of any ban on Australian coal
The editor-in-chief of Chinese government mouthpiece The Global Times enjoyed lunch at the Australian embassy in Beijing on Wednesday as a guest of our ambassador.
Australia s top diplomat in China, Graham Fletcher, invited outspoken Australian critic Hu Xijin to dine with him a few hours before the tabloid decided that China-Australia relations need to improve .
Editor Hu and his paper published a piece recently saying Scott Morrison should slap himself in the face after he demanded an apology over a fake image of an Australian soldier tweeted by a Chinese official.
Editor of The Global Times, Hu Xijin (pictured), has been one of Australia s loudest critics in China recently
Furious Australians are vowing to boycott some of the nation s biggest wine brands after a viral post named and shamed 41 vineyards with links to China.
The move comes after China imposed a 212 per cent tariff on Australian wine last week which threatens to cripple the $6billion industry. And on Thursday, China s Commerce Ministry increased the pain even further by imposing additional duties of between 6.3 and 6.4 per cent which will be introduced on Friday.
The massive tariffs and duties on Australian wine - which exports a staggering 39% of all its product to China - followed claims by the Beijing foreign exporters were dumping cheap wine on the Chinese market.