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. Chinese 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.”