Drink Australian wine to defeat Chinese 'bullying', campaigners urge

The campaign to buy Australian wine is gathering pace as Beijing renewed trade restrictions against Sydney.

The Chinese commerce ministry said it would keep temporary anti-dumping duties on Australian wine imports and potentially extend them to nine months in special circumstances, although it did not say what these could be.

It came after 200 parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China called on citizens across the 19 countries they represent to drink Australian over the festive season in solidarity against China’s “bullying” tactics.

Last week Beijing announced that it would impose 107.1-212.1pc tariffs on its biggest trading partner’s wine from Nov 28, on top of sanctions on beef, coal and other exports.

It was the latest shot fired in a worsening diplomatic row between the two countries that started when Canberra demanded an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

This week Australian prime minister Scott Morrison described a tweet posted by Zhao Lijian, a Chinese official, that falsely depicted a grinning Australian soldier with a bloodied knife held to an Afghan child's throat as "truly repugnant" and "deeply offensive".

Mr Morrison responded by appealing directly to the Chinese public via the messaging app WeChat, claiming the post had not eroded Australia’s respect for the Chinese people.

"My position and my government's position is to seek constructive engagement," he said. "The relationship with China is a mutually beneficial one. It supports both our countries, it is good for both of our countries."

His post was deleted and Beijing, in turn, accused Canberra of trying to “stoke domestic nationalism”.

Josh Frydenberg, the Australian federal treasurer, said he was disappointed about both the official’s tweet and the deleted post.

"What the prime minister did in his WeChat message before it was disappointingly deleted was he made it very clear Australia is proud of its servicemen and women who wear the uniform," Mr Frydenberg said.