Ok, this is just not that simple. The World Trade Organization (WTO) was created on the 1st of January 1995 and headquartered in Geneva. China was admitted to the WTO in 2001 and has systematically abused its membership. Australia is taking China to the WTO over barley tariffs, wine tariffs and breaches of the free trade agreement. It will be easy to argue that China has abused contracts, agreements and trust. Yeah good, but China has a history of not following agreed upon rules or protocols.
But where does it go from here? What will the WTO do? Whilst the WTO will more than likely rule in Australia’s favour, what is the likely outcome? Just like the International Court of Arbitration ruling for the Spratly Islands, China will simply ignore. So what options does Australia have? Well, they could seize Chinese assets and redistribute the funds to affected parties as compensation. This would certainly get the attention of the CCP, they will quickly realise economic coercion is a fundamentally flawed premise.
What can they do then short of declare war? Firstly, mutually beneficial security alliances will prevent this. They can go back to the WTO and plead their case, but since the regime does not accept independent arbitration, this won’t work. The best option is tell them to stick it up their arse and fuck off but this doesn’t achieve anything. If they don’t accept the WTO decision, suspend their membership, take punitive action and seize any assets where the CCP has a financial interest.
Observations in an undemocratic world 