{"id":7797,"date":"2019-02-22T05:08:30","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T05:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/australia-seeks-clarification-on-china-coal-import-block\/"},"modified":"2019-02-22T05:08:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T05:08:30","slug":"australia-seeks-clarification-on-china-coal-import-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/australia-seeks-clarification-on-china-coal-import-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia seeks clarification on China coal import &#8216;block&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Ships and containers at a port in Dalian, China\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/1FD0\/production\/_105744180_gettyimages-1061663740.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"media-caption__text\"><br \/>\n                    One of China&#8217;s biggest ports is reported to have halted Australian coal imports<br \/>\n                <\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">The Australian government says it is seeking an &#8220;urgent&#8221; clarification from Beijing over reports that a major Chinese port has halted imports of Australian coal.<\/p>\n<p>Australia is a top supplier of coal to China, its biggest export market.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing has not confirmed the reported halt in the port of Dalian, but called changes in such arrangements &#8220;normal&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Canberra sought to play down speculation on Friday that the matter may be linked to bilateral tensions.<\/p>\n<p>Australian officials said there was &#8220;confusion&#8221; over the situation, and they were consulting their Chinese counterparts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t jump to conclusions. The Australia-China trading relationship is exceptionally strong,&#8221; Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-australia-46133560\" class=\"story-body__link\">Australia ups Pacific role to counter China<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-australia-44624270\" class=\"story-body__link\">Foreign interference laws passed amid China tension<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fears about the issue have prompted a fall in the Australian dollar.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What has happened?<\/h2>\n<p>On Thursday, Reuters reported that China&#8217;s Dalian port region would not allow Australian coal to pass through customs.<\/p>\n<p>The news agency quoted officials as saying that only Australian coal had been affected, with no limits placed on Indonesian and Russian shipments.<\/p>\n<p>It said other Chinese ports had delayed Australian coal shipments in recent months.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                 <span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"media-caption__text\"><br \/>\n                    Coal is Australia&#8217;s biggest export commodity<br \/>\n                <\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Australian trade officials said they had been notified of recent industry concerns about market access.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the reported halt, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang offered general comments that authorities sought &#8220;to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese importers and protect the environment&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What else is being debated?<\/h2>\n<p>Some security analysts in Australia have suggested it could be a tit-for-tat move by China, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-45281495\" class=\"story-body__link\">Australia blocked tech giant Huawei from providing 5G technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The banning of those coal shipments is a form of coercion against Australia. It&#8217;s punishment against states that resist China&#8217;s pressure,&#8221; said Dr Malcolm Davis, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n<p>Other recent tensions have emerged over allegations &#8211; denied by Beijing &#8211; of Chinese interference in Australian politics and society.<\/p>\n<p>However others, including the head of  the Reserve Bank of Australia, have suggested that China&#8217;s concerns about its own coal industry may be behind any such halts.<\/p>\n<p>Blocking &#8220;a couple of months of coal exports&#8221; would not hurt the Australian economy, said Philip Lowe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If it were to be the sign of a deterioration in the underlying political relationship between Australia and China then that would be more concerning,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Frydenberg said: &#8220;We can see these occasional interruptions to the smooth flow but that doesn&#8217;t necessarily translate to some of the consequences that aspects of the media might seek to leap to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-australia-47326595\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty Images Image caption One of China&#8217;s biggest ports is reported to have halted Australian coal imports The Australian government says it is seeking an &#8220;urgent&#8221; clarification from Beijing over reports that a major Chinese port has halted imports of Australian coal. Australia is a top supplier of coal to China, its biggest &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}