China will subject Australian wheat imports to ‘enhanced scrutiny’

As China continues to simmer over Australia’s push for an independent COVID inquiry, Beijing slammed America as a “threat to world peace” and the US ambassador stepped down.

• China hits Australian barley with massive tariffs
• Aussie winemakers pinned with investigation by China

The Australian wheat sector is now embroiled in the ongoing trade wars involving Beijing’s crackdown on foreign imports.

According to the ABC, China’s General Administration of Customs has issued a notice stating it will apply “enhanced inspection” efforts on shipments of Australian wheat.

Wheat producers have already sold more than a dozen shipments to China for December and January worth approximately $250 million.

China is imposing shocking strictures on Aussie exports from coal to wine to barley to wheat. The latter will now be subjected to “enhanced scrutiny”. Picture: Supplied

While China depends on imports for feed grain, the move puts Australian wheat producers in a precarious position while they await the results of China’s inspections.

In May, China imposed an astronomical 80 per cent tariff on Australia’s barley exports which were then worth $1.6 billion a year.

Beijing also rejected barley shipments from WA grain handler CBH on grounds the vessels were contaminated with vermin.

China is reliant on Aussie grain but you wouldn’t know it based on their astronomical tariffs placed on barley. Picture: Supplied / Emma Brasier

The sanctions appear to be political as China has lashed out against Australia’s grain, coal and wine exports and tourism.

CBH issued a statement in which it said: “The CBH Group is confident that the grain we export from Western Australia meets all Australian phytosanitary export requirements, whether it is barley, wheat or other products.”

Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidemann said the news was no surprise.

“This is not unexpected that they would heighten their increased surveillance on any grain, or any producer really, transferring from Australia to China at the moment,” Mr Weidemann said.

US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad will step down amid growing trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Picture: AFP

US CHINA TENSIONS ESCALATE

The US ambassador to China will step down amid growing tensions between China and the US.

According to the New York Post, Terry Branstad will be stepping down, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in a series of tweets sent Sunday night into Monday morning local time.

“I thank Ambassador Terry Branstad for his more than three years of service to the American people as U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China,” the nation’s top diplomat began.

Mr Pompeo declined to provide a reason for Mr Branstad’s sudden departure, but praised his work for the Trump administration overseas.

“Ambassador Branstad has contributed to rebalancing U.S.-China relations so that it is results-oriented, reciprocal, and fair,” Mr Pompeo said, adding, “This will have lasting, positive effects on U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”

CHINA TOP MILITARY BRASS SLAMS US

But China doesn’t hold such a rosy view and slammed a critical Pentagon report on Beijing’s military ambitions, saying the US is the one that poses the biggest threat to world peace.

Colonel Wu Qian, spokesman from the Chinese Defence Ministry called the report a “wanton distortion” of China’s aims.

Soldiers from China's People's Liberation Army march on Red Square during a military parade. Picture: AFP

“Many years of evidence shows that it is the US that is the fomenter of regional unrest, the violator of the international order and the destroyer of world peace,” he said.

The statement comes after the US Defence Department claims China’s rapid military development would have “serious implications for US national interests and the security of the international rules-based order” in an annual report.

China is also expected to double the size of its nuclear arsenal in the next decade as the country seeks to further expand its global power, the US warned.

Military vehicles carrying DF-21D ballistic missiles roll to Tiananmen Square. A Pentagon report has raised the alarm over Beijing’s military ambitions. Picture: Reuters

A Pentagon report says China’s armed forces and capabilities outstrip those of the US in many respects. Picture: AFP / China OUT

The analysis continued by saying that China already achieved parity with – or even exceeded – the US in several military modernisation areas.

It also claimed that the Chinese military has made major progress in ship building, the development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as integrated air defence systems.

Originally published as China will subject Australian wheat imports to ‘enhanced scrutiny’