The traditionally left-wing Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) has put partisan politics to one side and joined calls for China’s efforts at global supremecy to be defeated. It wants a “trade NATO” bloc powerful enough to take on “China’s preferred approach of bilateral bullying” as a preferred means of keeping free trade a reality.
AWU National Secretary Daniel Walton has sent a letter to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to not capitulate to the Communist state’s threats of trade retaliation over the coronavirus pandemic, telling the conservative coalition leader the union is backing him.
“The integrity of Australia’s trading regime is paramount to sovereignty,” Walton wrote. “We note with concern the pressure being placed upon the Australian government with respect to the integrity of its trade regime.”
The letter comes after after China targeted Australia’s beef and barley producers this week before threatening to cut off Australia’s $63 billion iron ore export pipeline to Beijing following the Morrison Government’s calls for an international inquiry into the origins of the deadly coronavirus.
The AWU, which was founded in the 1880s and has over 100,000 members, says Australia must stand firm against the Chinese government.
“Australia should resist any attempts to be bullied,” Walton’s letter continued, as News.com reports. “It is critical the Australian government holds its nerve against such pressure and enforces its international and domestic rights.”
The AWU show of public support for the Australian government came within hours of China slapping an import ban on four Australian abattoirs in an escalation of Beijing’s warning of a widening consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra’s push for an independent coronavirus probe.
China Warns Australia: Drop Coronavirus Probe or Pay an Economic Price https://t.co/V54exGJuOT
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 27, 2020
Earlier this week China also flagged plans to slap an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley, bringing the trade to its knees.
Australia however is not alone in its fight against China.
As Breitbart news reported, a bipartisan U.S. Congress group has slammed China for threatening punitive economic sanctions against any country that opposes it.
The 27 senators and House of Representatives members said China had made “deeply disturbing” threats against long-term ally Australia and the U.S. will stand with the Aussies against China’s bullying.
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