Australia calls on the G7 countries to support the reform of the World Trade Organization, believing that this is the best way to weaken Beijing’s economic coercion campaign against Canberra and to counter China’s competition in the Indo-Pacific region.

Scott Morrison also supported President Joe Biden’s intelligence review of the origins of Covid-19 and warned that due to the increasing risk of conflict with China, democracies must be better than at any time since the Cold War. Work closely together.

“Accelerating trends are not good for our interests,” Morrison said in a speech before the G7 summit in the UK this weekend. “The Indo-Pacific region-the region of Australia-is at the center of a new round of strategic competition. The risk of misjudgment and conflict is increasing.”

Canberra hopes that the G7 countries will agree to WTO reforms, which will allow the Appellate Body, which is at the core of its decision-making process, to resume work. Since Donald Trump was elected president, Washington has been blocking the appointment of the Appellate Body because of fear of judicial overstepping, which has effectively prevented countries from complying with WTO rulings.

The paralysis of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is a difficult time for Australia.Canberra has appealed China to the WTO Punitive tariff Barley, and is preparing to take the same measures with regard to tariffs imposed on wine.

“The most practical way to solve economic coercion is to restore the binding dispute settlement system of the global trade agency. In the case of coercive behavior without consequences, there is very little motivation for restraint,” Morrison said.

He said that like-minded countries should draw inspiration from the years after World War II and work together to maintain an open, rules-based system so that free democracies can flourish without coercion.

Australia and China are embroiled in a painful diplomacy dispute Following Canberra’s call last year to investigate the origin of Covid-19. This prompted Beijing to impose tariffs and other restrictions on billions of dollars worth of Australian imports in what analysts call an economic coercion movement.

Morrison was invited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leaders of India, South Africa and South Korea to participate in the G7. Analysts said the move showed support for the dispute between Australia and China.

“The leaders of the Group of Seven nations know that if they do not jointly respond to China’s challenges, they will all be coerced by Xi’s China alone, and they will not be able to curb Beijing’s increasingly aggressive international behavior in trade, territory, security, technology, and key values. It’s like human rights,” said Michael Shubridge, an analyst at the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy.

Before the conservative government sent a hardline message to China, the opposition Labor Party last week accused it of using rhetoric that “incites nationalism” to achieve domestic political goals. The business community also expressed concern about the growing tension with Australia’s largest trading partner, China.

“Australia needs more strategy and less politics when dealing with differences with China,” said Labor Party leader Anthony Abnen. “But foreign policy is not a game. This is not a photo manipulation. This is a serious business with far-reaching security and economic impact.”