Chinese customs officials revealed on Monday that timber exports from South Australia and Tasmania had been suspended since December 3, following similar bans on timber from Queensland and Victoria.
Assistant Forestry Minister Jonno Duniam said China had detected live pests of concern including bark beetle in consignments from five exporters.
“The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is working through officials in Beijing to clarify and resolve this,” he said.
“I am engaging closely with industry, and we are working at all levels to resolve these issues as soon as possible.”
Trade strikes spread
Australia exports $1.6 billion of logs and woodchips to China annually.
The new strike on timber comes after Beijing this week increased to six the number of abattoirs suspended from exporting beef to China, while it is refusing to allow lamb producers to restart exports after they were shut down briefly because of coronavirus outbreaks.
China has also slapped punitive tariffs on barley and wine and imposed effective bans on coal, seafood and cotton exports.
Senator Birmingham said the government was considering all dispute settlement options to back exporters.
“In the view of the Australian government, the targeted nature of Chinese government measures on Australian goods raises concerns about China’s adherence to both the letter and spirt of both its ChAFTA and WTO obligations,” Senator Birmingham said in a speech to the Senate.
‘Not fog of war’
While China is using trade to punish Australia, relations between Canberra and Beijing plunged to their lowest ebb last week after China’s Foreign Ministry seized on alleged war crimes by Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan to stoke the war of words.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds refused to be drawn on whether the central claim amplified by China that soldiers cut the throats of teenage boys were among the 39 alleged murders identified by the Brereton inquiry or the allegation was untrue.
The militarisation of [the South China Sea] worries me because it suggests that China has not been prepared to negotiate.
Greg Moriarty, Defence Department secretary
“I don’t think any Australian would expect me to answer the detailed information on any of the specific allegations that are moving forward,” she said.
“But there are 39 incidents of credible evidence of murder. Not fog of war, of murder.”
Defence Department Secretary Greg Moriarty used an appearance at the Australian National University’s National Security College on Tuesday night to lambaste China’s militarisation of the South China Sea for “complicating” Australia’s security and unsettling the region.
“The militarisation of those features worries me because it suggests that China has not been prepared to negotiate, it has asserted its rights to those features. These things are disturbing,” he said.
Mr Moriarty also said he was concerned by the actions of China’s Australian embassy to issue to the media a 14-point list of grievances over Australian policies towards China.
In a separate speech on Wednesday to the National Press Club, the college’s head, Rory Medcalf, said the “China trauma” Australia was enduring in its diplomatic and economic relationship this year had been inevitable because of how much China’s leadership had changed.
He called for the creation of a “national interest strategy” that would blend together security, economic prosperity and social cohesion.