China suspends beef imports from a SIXTH Australian supplier after declaring coronavirus might have originated Down Under from a frozen steak
- Queensland meat company Meramist was blacklisted by Chinese government
- It is the sixth Australian meat company to be banned from China since May
- Relations between the nations have rapidly deteriorated during Covid-19
China has banned imports from a sixth Australian meat supplier without giving a reason.
Queensland meat company Meramist, based in Caboolture, was blacklisted by the China's General Administration of Customs on Monday.
China banned four of Australia's largest meat processors in May citing issues with labelling and health certificates and in August suspended imports from a fifth plant.
China has banned imports from a sixth Australian meat supplier without giving a reason. Pictured: An Australia export ship
A fridge displaying beef from Australia on sale at a supermarket in Beijing last month
Analysts have accused Beijing of using trade as a 'weapon of statecraft' to pressure Australia into becoming more friendly to China.
Relations between the nations have rapidly deteriorated since Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus which was identified last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading around the world, causing 1.5million deaths.
Last month Beijing slapped a 212 per cent tariff on Aussie wine and held up Australian lobster and coal exports at Chinese ports.
On Sunday Beijing claimed that coronavirus may have spawned outside China and travelled to a wet market in Wuhan via frozen food exports from countries including Australia.
An article in the government-controlled Global Times newspaper said the idea the virus was imported into the Huanan wet market last year 'cannot be ruled out' - although it admitted there is no supporting evidence.
Beijing has been pushing the theory since October when experts tracing an outbreak in Qingdao city found living coronavirus samples on packets of imported frozen cod.
Customers buy meat at a market in Shenyang, in China's northeastern Liaoning province
Coronavirus cases were first reported in Wuhan in December before spreading rapidly around the world, causing 1.5million deaths. Pictured: Temperature checks in Guangzhou in January
Western scientists say the theory is 'highly speculative' and believe it is much more likely that the disease passed from bats to another animal species and then to humans in Wuhan.
In a separate article on Sunday, the same newspaper claimed Australia - a close US ally - has been 'the pawn in the US regional strategy in the recent years' and pictured a cartoon of a kangaroo projecting the shadow of an eagle, the national emblem of America.
Attempting to cast doubt on the idea that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, The Global Times said cold-chain products were imported into the city from several countries including 'meat products from Brazil and Germany... Australian steak, Chilean cherries and Ecuadorian seafood.'
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in October that lab tests confirmed Covid-19 could survive for a long time on frozen food packaging.
Yang Zhanqiu, a pathology expert at Wuhan University, told the Global Times the discovery made it possible that the virus was initially imported into China.
'The idea never crossed our minds before. But now it seems plausible that the virus may have been imported to Wuhan via imported cold-chain products,' he said.
The World Health Organisation has said the virus can 'survive a long time under cold storage conditions' but examples are 'rare and isolated.'
The Global Times said that since July there have been 40 cases of coronavirus being found on cold-chain imports, including on imported beef.
The article quoted a local seller saying most frozen food sold at Huanan Seafood Market is imported from abroad.
'The products produced in China are clean. I am not sure about imported goods,' the seller said.
The article also listed customs data which showed that Hubei, the province that contains Wuhan, had a 174 per cent increase in frozen product imports in 2019 compared with the previous year.
However, the authors admitted there was no evidence to support the theory that the virus started outside China.
Biejing has claimed that coronavirus may have spawned outside China and travelled to a wet market in Wuhan (pictured) via frozen food imports from other countries including Australia
An anonymous expert was quoted as saying: 'Theoretically, it is possible that coronavirus from other countries caused the early outbreak in Wuhan, but we lack evidence.'
China cites frozen food packaging as a Covid-19 risk and has stepped up inspections even though the World Health Organization says neither food nor packaging is a known transmission route.
Canberra-Beijing relations hit a new low last week when China's foreign ministry spokesman sparked fury by tweeting a mocked-up image of a digger threatening to kill an Afghan child after a report alleged Aussie troops committed war crimes.
Mr Morrison called the mocked-up image 'repugnant' and demanded an apology - but Beijing refused and on Tuesday communist party newspaper The Global Times shared a new image by the same artist attacking the prime minister.
The Chinese Embassy in Canberra has released a dossier of 14 grievances including claims Australia is 'siding with the US', interfering in its affairs in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Among the other grievances was Australia's decision to ban Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei from the country's 5G network and blocking foreign investment bids by Chinese companies.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtOTAyODE3NS9DaGluYS1zdXNwZW5kcy1iZWVmLWltcG9ydHMtU0lYVEgtQXVzdHJhbGlhbi1zdXBwbGllci5odG1s0gFvaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltYWlsLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZS05MDI4MTc1L2FtcC9DaGluYS1zdXNwZW5kcy1iZWVmLWltcG9ydHMtU0lYVEgtQXVzdHJhbGlhbi1zdXBwbGllci5odG1s?oc=5
2020-12-07 22:40:33Z
52781231461468
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "China suspends imports from Australian beef supplier amid trade war - Daily Mail"
Post a Comment