Leading Chinese newspaper says slowdown in delivery of Australian coal exports to China may be political
A leading Chinese newspaper has suggested a slowdown in delivery of Australian coal exports to China could be linked to the Huawei ban.
The slowdown in delivery of Australian coal exports to China could be linked to its ban on Chinese telecommunications company Huawei supplying equipment for the 5G network, according to a leading Chinese newspaper.
“Can’t even sell coal to China?” the newspaper Cankaoxiaoxi wrote yesterday. “Australia can’t stand it any longer.”
A populist paper published by Chinese newsagency Xinhua, Cankaoxiaoxi pointed out that Australia was one of the first countries to follow calls by the US to ban Huawei.
“After the US called on its allies, Australia was the first (country) to respond by banning Huawei from participating in its 5G network,” the article said.
The paper quoted an influential Chinese academic, Wang Shuo, the deputy director of the European Study Centre at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, an official think tank in Beijing, as saying that relations between countries need to be based on mutual trust.
“Bi-lateral relations are based on mutual trust,” he told the paper. “If you are hostile to me, my co-operation with you will certainly be reduced.”
He said when countries from the Five Eyes intelligence sharing group, including Australia, made the decision to ban Huawei they should have been aware that it could have broader implications for the relationship.
“Reality will help these countries to think over how to calculate political and economic loss and gain,” he said.
The Cankaoxiaoxi report follows The Australian’s report early this month that China had restricted imports of Australian coking coal at up to a dozen ports in the northeast awaiting customs clearance.
Newsagency Reuters reported this week that ships with Australian coal are being held offshore from ports in China, awaiting customs clearance which is now taking more than 40 days, more than double the normal time.
The delays follow informal import quotas imposed on coal deliveries to China from November last year as Chinese authorities responded to a surge on coal deliveries earlier in the year by sharply cutting back deliveries of foreign coal.
These delays appear to have applied to coal deliveries from all countries.
But new restrictions on coal deliveries in late January appear to be more targeted towards Australian coal with several coal traders in China telling Reuters that they had specifically been told not to buy coal from Australia.
The Minerals Council of Australia has been watching the situation closely with its chief executive Tania Constable telling media in the last week that the council was “deeply concerned about the restrictions and the uncertainty of when they will be lifted.
“We believe that an unofficial quota system (has been) employed since the restructure of customs and quarantine administrative arrangements in October 2018,” she said.
She said talks were ongoing with the Chinese Embassy in Canberra over the issue.
The Cankaoxiaoxi article comes as Britain is considering its position on the security implications around equipment for its 5G network.
New Zealand has not officially blanket banned Huawei from supplying its 5G network in the same way the Australia, but it has rejected a request by telecommunications company Spark to use Huawei equipment.
But the company has put up a new approach for consideration by New Zealand authorities using Huawei equipment.
Britain’s decision on the use of Chinese equipment for its 5G network is a critical one as it will be influential in thinking by European nations who are also considering their options for their 5G networks.
BHP believes that the restrictions are in response to the changing domestic situation in China.
But questions have quietly been asked in Australia-China circles about whether there may be an element of political payback going in with Australian coal being singled out for the new restrictions this year. The Cankaoxiaoxi article is the closest confirmation from the Chinese side that the latest delays may have political overtones.
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