Beijing blames Australia’s ‘wrong words and deeds’ for trade war after US rebuke

China has laid the blame back on Australia for the deteriorating relationship between the two countries, dismissing the concerns of the US Indo-Pacific chief ahead of the first meeting between the two superpowers in Alaska.

Responding to comments by President Joe Biden’s top aide in the region, Kurt Campbell, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday said that it was not responsible for the breakdown in communication between the two countries after more than a year of trade strikes on $20 billion worth of exports.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Credit: AP

“The root cause of the current difficulties in bilateral relations is Australia’s wrong words and deeds on issues concerning China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, which have undermined the foundation of mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries,” said foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.

“The Australian side knows the ins and outs better than anyone else.”

The comments from China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday night are an early sign that Beijing will attempt to separate the dispute with Australia from the foreign affairs and national security dialogue with the United States in Anchorage on Thursday.

Campbell on Tuesday told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the US was “not going to leave Australia alone on the field”. He said the Biden administration would make it clear to Beijing that the US was not prepared to improve bilateral relations with China “at the same time that a close and dear ally is being subjected to a form of economic coercion”.

In a significant change in tone in how Beijing views the evolving relationship with Washington after President Biden’s election win, Zhao said he hoped “the two sides can have candid talks on issues of common concern”.

“The two sides should respect and treat each other as equals, enhance mutual understanding through dialogue, manage and dissolve differences and bring China-US relations back to the right track,” he said.

The world’s two largest economies have faced their own period of heightened geopolitical turbulence after the Trump administration accused China of intellectual property theft, imposed tariffs on more than $US360 billion in Chinese goods, made unsubstantiated claims of China spreading the coronavirus from a Wuhan lab and condemned human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Australia’s relationship with Beijing has spiralled since 2018 after the Turnbull government blocked telecommunications provider Huawei from the 5G network over national security concerns. That decision along with foreign interference legislation, restrictions on multi-billion dollar business deals, independent media criticism of China’s policies and funding for think-tank research features prominently on a list of 14 grievances delivered by the Chinese embassy to the media in November.

The list followed trade restrictions on Australian seafood, coal, wine and half-a-dozen other exports throughout 2020.

Campbell’s comments came three days after the first Quad leader-level discussions between the US, India, Japan and Australia and as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Minister Lloyd Austin make their first overseas trip to the region.

Austin on Tuesday night labelled China a “pacing threat” for the United States as its military and economy grows in tandem.

“For the last two decades...while we were focused on issues in the Middle East, China has modernised its military,” he said in Tokyo.

“In addition to that, it has engaged in aggressive and in some cases coercive behaviour, and some of that behaviour has been directed against our allies in the region. Our goal is to make sure that we maintain a competitive edge over China or anyone else that would want to threaten us or our alliance.”

Foreign Minister Marise Payne was contacted for comment.