Australian PM calls for WTO reform as tensions with China mount

CANBERRA: The World Trade Organization must have a binding dispute settlement system to address the growing use of “economic coercion”, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday, as Canberra moves to win the support of G7 nations in its dispute with China.

Relations with China, already rocky after Australia banned Huawei from its nascent 5G broadband networking in 2018, cooled further after Canberra called this year for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, first reported in central China last year.