An international alliance of parliamentarians have called on their nationals to drink Australian wine, in support of producers hit by recent import tariffs imposed by the Chinese government.
Chinese importers of Australian wine are now required to pay temporary deposits to China’s customs authority, ranging from 107 to 212 per cent, in a move aimed to cripple the Australian wine industry, which followed the release of preliminary findings from an anti-dumping investigation.
Alongside allegations Australian producers sold premium wines below the cost of production being denied by Canberra and industry, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) have called for their citizens to stand behind those effected by the tariffs.
In a short video released last week, the group—which consists of more than 200 parliamentarians from 19 countries, including Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan, among others—called on their citizens to swap their national beverages for Australian wine, this December, in a bid to support our nation’s wine industry.
#SolidaritywithAustralia
🍷🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/u3ksj9v4YD— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) (@ipacglobal) December 1, 2020
IPAC describes itself as a “cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China”, whose members include Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching.
In the video, she said China’s recent behaviour—which has also included suspending orders of wine and other Australian exports, like barley, crayfish and timber—amounted to an attempt to “bully” Australia into “abandoning its values”.
She also noted the leaking of a document to the Australian press by Beijing, obtained by Nine newspapers, that included a list of 14 grievances China has with Australia.
“This isn’t just an attack on Australia,” Senator Kitching said. “It’s an attack on free countries everywhere.”
Featured image source: Twitter/@ipacglobal
