Chinese plan to cause Australia ‘economic pain’ from trade bans backfires

Communist China’s plan to bring Australia’s economy to its knees through economic boycotts has backfired after the nation had to wind back some of its policies as its energy crisis worsened. Since September, the Asian superpower has been struggling to cope with a power crisis leading to rolling blackouts and factories shutting down across the country.

Some of the outages were so severe that Chinese citizens had to live without traffic lights and phone reception in some areas. But even though more than two-thirds of China’s electricity comes from coal-fired plants, the nation refused to buy any Australian coal. Last year, China imposed a number of bans on Australian products including iron ore, wine, beef, barley and even lobsters to create “economic pain” after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an investigations into the origins of Covid-19.

The coal ban was imposed last November, wiping $1 billion off our economy. But in China’s latest customs report, it revealed that last month it imported 2.78 million tonnes of Australian coal in what could be a relaxation of its ban and a major backflip on its part.

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