Ep. 46: Australia-China tensions over a Covid-19 inquiry

This week Allan and Darren devote the entire episode to a wild and very tense few weeks in the bilateral relationship between Australia and China. These events kicked off with Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s call for an inquiry into China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and snowballed from there, in particular with an interview conducted by China’s ambassador to Australia, duelling press releases from the Chinese embassy and DFAT, and interventions from mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.  

As always, we invite our listeners to email us at this address: [email protected] We welcome feedback, requests and suggestions. You can also contact Darren on twitter @limdarrenj

We thank AIIA intern Maddie Gordon for her help with research and audio editing, XC Chong for research support, and Rory Stenning for composing our theme music.

Relevant links

ABC article covering FM Payne’s call for an inquiry: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/payne-calls-for-inquiry-china-handling-of-coronavirus-covid-19/12162968

SBS report on PM Morrison’s first comments: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-and-china-clash-over-independent-inquiry-into-coronavirus-pandemic

Sydney Morning Herald report on PM Morrison talking to UN, Germany, France: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-pushes-for-global-review-into-handling-of-covid-19-20200421-p54lub.html

Peter Hartcher column in the Sydney Morning Herald: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-week-australia-stood-up-to-china-and-global-giants-20200424-p54n3c.html

Embassy of PRC in Australia, transcript of Ambassador Cheng’s interview with AFR: http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/sghdxwfb_1/t1773741.htm

Report on the response from Marise Payne and Penny Wong: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/what-is-needed-is-global-cooperation-marise-payne-slaps-down-beijing-s-boycott-threat-20200427-p54njj.html  

Darren’s analysis (co-authored with Victor Ferguson) on the ABC website covering the ambassador’s interview: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-29/china-boycott-diplomacy--coronavirus-comes-more-government/12194482  

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham’s ABC interview transcript: https://www.trademinister.gov.au/minister/simon-birmingham/transcript/interview-abc-radio-canberra-am-sabra-lane-2

Embassy of PRC in Australia, response to media question regarding the Adamson phone call: http://au.china-embassy.org/eng/sghdxwfb_1/t1774089.htm  

DFAT response: https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/media-release/dfat-statement-regarding-comments-embassy-peoples-republic-china  

Article covering Kerry Stokes: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/kerry-stokes-calls-for-china-backdown-urges-canberra-to-respect-wet-markets-20200430-p54ohj.html

Albert Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945): https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520301337/national-power-and-the-structure-of-foreign-trade

Money Heist (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/80192098

Dustin O’Halloran (composer of “Arrival”), Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_O%27Halloran

Ramin Djawadi (composer of “Light of the Seven”), Podcast interview on Song Exploder: http://songexploder.net/ramin-djawadi