A global alliance representing 200 parliamentarians from around the world, has launched a campaign in support of Australian wines and in opposition to Beijing’s increased “bullying” via bans on trade.
Launched on Twitter on Tuesday, the short video featured members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) calling on citizens in their respective nations to put aside their national beverages during December, and instead buying Australian wine.
In response, Beijing has “cancelled a range of Australian imports in an attempt to bully us into abandoning our values,” Kitching said.
“This isn’t an attack on Australia, it’s an attack on free countries everywhere.”
Miriam Lexmann, a member of the European Parliament called on people to “stand against Xi Jinping’s authoritarian bullying.”
“By drinking a bottle or two of Australian wine, and letting the Chinese Communist Party know that we will not be bullied,” Elisabet Lann, Swedish councillor continued.
“Cheers … no bullying from China,” Danish politican Uffe Elbæk said.
IPAC was established in June seeking to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the international rules-based order and universal human rights.
It comprises representatives from Australia, Canada, the United States, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the European Parliament.
Last weekend, the CCP’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) slapped tariffs ranging from 100 to 200 percent on Australian wine imports as part of its ongoing “anti-dumping” investigation into the industry.
Australia’s largest wine producer Treasury Wine Estates (makers of Penfolds, Rawson’s Retreat, and Jacob’s Creek) was hit with one of the highest tariffs at 169.3 percent.
While smaller winemakers were slugged with a broad-ranging 212.1 percent tariff.
MOFCOM claimed it found “substantial” dumping of wine from Australian wine companies and that there was a “direct relationship” between the dumping and actual damage in the Chinese wine market.
While the prime minister pointed to Australian wines having the second-highest average price in China in the first half of 2020, following New Zealand wines.