China threatens Aussie boycott over call for investigation

[Barry]

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/corona ... pread.html

China envoy threatens boycott after Australia calls to investigate virus's spread


AFP, Sydney Monday 27 April 2020
China’s ambassador in Australia has warned that demands for a probe into the spread of the coronavirus could lead to a consumer boycott of Aussie wine or trips Down Under.

Australia has joined the United States in calling for a thorough investigation of how the virus transformed from a localized epidemic in central China into a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people, forced billions into isolation and torpedoed the global economy.
In a thinly veiled threat, ambassador Cheng Jingye warned the push for an independent inquest into the origins of the outbreak was “dangerous.”

“The Chinese public is frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with what Australia is doing now,” he claimed in an interview with the Australian Financial Review published on Sunday.

“If the mood is going from bad to worse, people would think ‘why should we go to such a country that is not so friendly to China?’ The tourists may have second thoughts,” he added.

“It is up to the people to decide. Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?’”

Cheng also threatened the flow of Chinese students to Australian universities, a key source of revenue that is already under threat from pandemic travel restrictions.

“The parents of the students would also think whether this place which they found is not so friendly, even hostile, whether this is the best place to send their kids here,” he said.

The comments mark a significant escalation in tensions between Beijing and Canberra, whose relations are already strained.

They also reflect the willingness of a new generation of Chinese diplomats to aggressively and publicly push Communist Party interests, using Chinese economic might as leverage if necessary.

Experts have said a full investigation into the coronavirus outbreak could prompt scrutiny of China’s rulers and their response to the crisis, and open the door for the type of criticism of the Party that is rarely tolerated.

Cheng also accused Australia of echoing talking points from the United States.

“Some guys are attempting to blame China for their problems and deflect the attention,” he said.
“It’s a kind of pandering to the assertions that are made by some forces in Washington.”

[barney]

I posted about this a couple of threads down. Not sure if you read that, Barry. I wondered whether this had been noticed in the US. Thanks for providing an answer to that question.
One issue that is getting a lot of attention in Australia is the need to disentangle our economy from China, because we are so reliant. That is vital, but can't be done overnight, or even over a year or two.

[Holden Fourth]

China is currently a four letter word in Australia. One thing we have been reminded of by this pandemic is the origin of our annual flu season.

[barney]

China is currently a four letter word in Australia. One thing we have been reminded of by this pandemic is the origin of our annual flu season.

Good point. I've been alarmed about China's activities in Australia for some years. One good thing to come out of this is that everyone's eyes have been opened. It's a hostile power trying to influence and subdue Australia by all means short of war. Cyber attacks, buying institutions, buying compliant universities, trying to install their own Members of Parliament,thuggish bullying of opponents - and worse, if they are ethnically Chinese.
There is a growing recognition that we can't rely on China and must diversify our markets and rebuild some of our industrial capacity, and I'm grateful for that. Of course it will take time. But as NIne News political editor Chris Uhlmann said in the paper today, we don't have to get on with China to trade. I quote his last paragraph in full: "In the words of a former intelligence officer: 'I don’t understand why Australian politicians think that we have to build a relationship of trust with China in order to do business with it. Russia and China understand each other perfectly because they don’t trust each other at all'.”
China is totally untrustworthy and a bad global citizen. And the world is waking up - just look at all the Chinese ambassadors around the world summoned to explain themselves this week.