No, Ambassador Xiao, China is not a champion of free trade
It is not Trump’s tariffs but Chinese economic policies and practices over many decades that are the greater challenge to the continuation of economic globalisation as we know it.
US President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on so-called reciprocal tariffs above 10 per cent for all economies except China has incensed Beijing. As China did back in 2018, when Trump first introduced his love of tariffs to the world, it is again seeking to seize the high moral ground.
Writing in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian positioned his country as the champion of globalisation and free trade, in juxtaposition to the United States as a hegemonic and short-sighted bully pursuing self-interested gains at the expense of the world.
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Dr John Lee is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. From 2016-18, he was the senior adviser to the Australian foreign minister.
