Sydney, June 26: Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has on Wednesday said the Chinese economy should be reformed in order to put an end to a trade war between two world largest economies – the United States and China – causing damage to the global economy.
According to Reuters news reports, speaking a day before a summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump viewed as crucial in preventing the rising of the trade war, Morrison stated Chinese economy must reflect is maturity.
Delivering a speech in Sydney, Morrison said, “Forced technology transfer is not fair. Intellectual property theft cannot be justified, regardless of where it started.”
He added, “Industrial subsidies under the model do promote overproduction. China’s rise has now reached what I would describe a threshold level of economic maturity.”
However, the Chinese embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
In a rare move urging a closure to the US-China trade spat, the Australian prime minister’s critique of China has threatened the attempt would strain ties with Beijing.
“China will not be happy at all with these comments,” said Haydon Manning, a political science specialist at Flinders University in South Australia.
“It may signal that after his election victory in May, Morrison may be shifting in how the government will approach its relationship with China.”