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SYDNEY — Caught between an erratic Donald Trump and a fast-spiraling diplomatic crisis with Beijing, Canberra turned to the EU for cover.
In the lead-up to the World Health Organization's World Health Assembly in May, Australia was staring down the barrel of a trade war with its top trading partner.
China slapped Australia with tariffs and threatened boycotts after Canberra called for an urgent independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak and for giving the WHO (or a different body) powers equivalent to those of weapons inspectors.
“Australia identified early that China needed to be transparent about the origins of the pandemic. As a result of Australia putting the issue on the table, there was serious pushback from China," the EU's Ambassador to Australia Michael Pulch said in an interview with POLITICO.
Australia's center-right government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, found a way out (and a way to save face) by piggybacking onto an EU resolution at the WHO's annual meeting.
"The European Union presented a resolution … and Australia was able to basically pursue its objective through this instrument," Pulch said.
That also avoided Australia being dragged into the Donald Trump Show. While it found support for its crusade in Washington, Canberra was spooked by the U.S. president's promotion of the theory that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
Ahead of the May WHO summit, Australia negotiated to include in an EU motion, which was passed by a record 137 co-sponsors, including China, a call for the WHO "to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population."
The motion fell short of the toughest rhetoric that had most aggravated Beijing — leading to something of a detente with Canberra.
"It’s true that the resolution was very useful in calming down the bilateral rhetoric” between Australia and China, said a Geneva-based diplomat close to the negotiations.
The WHO episode, which was confirmed by four people close to the talks from the EU, WHO and Australian camps, illustrates "what Australia and the EU could achieve in international fora when working together," according to Pulch.
"Australia brought its main concern to the table, and the original language [of the EU’s resolution] was beefed up," Pulch said. Shepherding a "critical mass of countries" to support the resolution, the EU and Australia "created such dynamism" that Beijing realized it "couldn’t prevent [the resolution from passing] and in fact wanted to join."
And that's as good as it was going to get, according to Pulch.
"If we wanted meaningful research, we also needed cooperation from the host country, so we needed to secure China’s cooperation," Pulch said. “Diplomacy is also about ensuring the possible. Australia got its main issue through ... [and] I would go a step further and say that Australia got more recognition in working with the EU in a multinational fora than ever before.”
In response to the resolution, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last Friday that "two WHO experts are currently en route to China to meet with fellow scientists and learn about the progress made in understanding the animal reservoir for COVID-19 and how the disease jumped between animals and humans."
The WHO experience has rekindled an interest in the EU Down Under, Pulch reckons.
“I have the impression the EU is being rediscovered here," he said. "Suddenly Australia said, ‘Well look, we can do something with the EU.' I find that quite promising.”
Brussels and Canberra are now engaging in "much more intensive dialogue between all levels of the government," Pulch said. "We have agreed for instance that we have now informal meetings of summit leaders in the margins of big international meetings such as the G20."
And last month, the EU added Australia to its shortlist of just 15 nations whose citizens are permitted entry into the bloc this summer. The decision to include the country was recognition of its low coronavirus transmission rates — and Canberra's role in helping get Europeans home as the pandemic spread.
“During the COVID crisis, we had intense cooperation with Australian governments at federal and state level, the department of foreign affairs and trade, customs, border force — and we were able to get 25,000 Europeans back home safely to Europe from Australia, plus 5,000 who left for Europe via Australia” from elsewhere in the region, Pulch said.
China is also on the EU's safe list, but inbound travel from the country will only be permitted if Beijing lifts its own restrictions on the EU. That condition hasn't been attached to Australia, despite the fact its borders remain closed to Europeans.
The reciprocity requirement applies only to China — "and there are special circumstances for that," Pulch said. While Australian governments worked to bring Europeans home at the height of the pandemic, measures Beijing took during its lockdown "affected the return of Europeans who were in China," Pulch said.
The Chinese Embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment.
Sarah Wheaton and Carmen Paun contributed reporting.
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