Beijing/Canberra | The Chinese government has linked steep tariffs on Australian barley to past trading disputes, saying it had only launched one remedy investigation in almost 50 years compared with 100 probes into goods from China by Australia in the same period.

Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said late on Monday that Beijing had been "cautious and restrained" in its trade remedy measures against Australia since the coronavirus outbreak, but noted Australia had launched more cases against China.