In response to the Chinese government's disruption to trade with Australia, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) has launched a video in which MPs from around the world urge people to buy Australian wine in December.
It is a call to action not just in support of the industry, but to take an ideological stance against Chinese President Xi Jinping's "bullying tactics".
In the video, the Australian Senator Kimberley Kitching says: "Earlier this month the Chinese government handed the Australian government a list of 14 grievances demanding that Austalia stops voicing out in defence of human rights and the rules based order.
"China has cancelled a wide range of Australian imports in an attempt to bully us into abandoning our values. One of the worst affected industries is the Australian wine industry. This isn't just just an attack on Australia, it's an attack on free countries, everywhere."
The video is spoken in English with both English and Mandarin subtitling and features MPs from Japan, Italy, Germany, the United States, Sweden, Norway and New Zealand.
IPAC includes participants from 19 countries and is an international cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China.
It is made up of global legislators and led by a group of co-chairs, who are senior politicians drawn from a representative cross-section of the world’s major political parties.
Up until now, 39 percent of Australia's export market goes to China with Chinese purchasing 135 million litres of Australian wine each year.
China has labelled the response a 'political show' anticipating that new trade partners will quickly emerge to fill any gaps made available by Australia's absence. See their full response in the Global Times.
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