China’s appetite for Aussie produce belies envoy’s threat of a boycott

If there is a Chinese consumer boycott of Australian produce brewing in Beijing, it is keeping a low profile.

Jia Shu, left, and Li Ranting at Blue Frog bar and grill in Beijing, where Australian beef and red wine are hugely popular among local diners.

If there is a Chinese consumer boycott of Australian produce brewing in Beijing, it is keeping a low profile.

The Weekend Australian visited half a dozen restaurants, cafes and shops that sell Australian produce to look for signs of the backlash that China’s ambassador in Canberra threatened could follow the Morrison government’s push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.

“Maybe the ordinary people will say ‘Why should we drink Australian wine? Eat Australian beef?’ ” the ambassador, Cheng Jingye, warned this week.

But it has been hard to find any of that consumer anxiety among Beijing’s wealthier citizens in terraces in Guomao full of customers dining on Australian beef, or the cafes in Dongzhimen confirming the popularity of Bundaberg Ginger Beer, or the wine stores in ­Sanlitun selling reds by Yarra Valley winery De Bortoli.

The Weekend Australian also struggled to find any evidence — in the real world, rather that on China’s curated intranet — that the “Chinese public is frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with what Australia is doing now”, as suggested by Cheng in an interview this week.

“If you haven’t heard that in the real world, it’s because you are not reaching out to that many people,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang in Beijing told The Weekend Australian.

Despite years of anxiety about the commercial impact of the fraught political relationship, Australia has continued to export record amounts to China, its biggest trading partner. Last year, Australia’s exports to China were $150.4bn — the most ever.

The manager of the Guomao branch of the Blue Frog bar and grill — which, as is prominently displayed on its menu, sources all its beef from Australia — said his customers were concerned about quality. “In Beijing, Australian beef is very popular,” says Jason, who has managed the restaurant for the past three years.

Australian wine is also popular. Brown Brothers Windmill Shiraz is Blue Frog’s “No 1 wine” and by far their bestseller.

He has managed the restaurant since 2017, before the Turnbull government upset the Chinese government by passing foreign interference laws, opposing its militarisation of the South China Sea and then banning Huawei from the Australian 5G network.

In his new prime ministerial ­biography, Malcolm Turnbull writes that while those decisions did result in “some trade interruptions designed to send us a message … it wasn’t substantial”.

“Overall, China-Australian trade has continued to grow substantially and in both directions,” Turnbull writes. And year after year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown just that.

What most affects demand for Blue Frog’s Australian produce is the weather — not bilateral politics. “June to October is the busiest because we can open outside. After then, it’s pretty cold,” said Jason. Enjoying the warm weather on Thursday were Li Ranting and Jia Shu, two 20-something Beijingers. Insurance university student Li is a fan of Australian beef, the main ingredient in her hamburger dinner. “It’s very tender,” she said.

Commercial lawyer Jia likes Australian red wine. “It’s good value,” he said.

Australian-Chinese bilateral relations played no part in their dining decisions.

Their table could hardly be closer to the angular CCTV building, although the pollution does add a haze to the view. That air pollution is another indication warnings about a boycott of Australian products in China may be overdone.

Much of it comes from the steel mills in neighbouring Hebei that have been blasting Australian iron ore throughout the pandemic.