"Millions of Chinese residents have been left without heating in the middle of winter as cities ration electricity amid a blockade on Australian coal.

Australia provided 57 per cent of China‘s thermal coal imports in 2019, which is used to generate electricity in power stations.

But last month, Beijing blocked Australian coal imports, which has resulted in 80 ships carrying more than $1.1billion in blacklisted cargo being stranded off the Chinese coast. 

Chinese coal prices were 500 yuan ($100) last month but increased 760 yuan ($153) per tonne on Wednesday, which has now resulted in restrictions on power use for millions of residents, according to South China Morning Post.

Some 57 million people live in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, on China’s east coast, and have been besieged by power shortages resulting in electricity being shut off.

The Zhejiang provincial government has now ordered offices to only use heating when the temperature drops below 3C and restaurant to only use air conditioning for diners, rather than staff, in the city of Wenzhou from December 11 to 20.

Small to medium sized factories have reportedly been ordered to halt production for one to two days after operating for two days between December 13 and 30."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9063943/Chinas-trade-war-Australia-backfires-country-plagued-blackouts-cold-winter.html

They have to let everyone freeze in order to pay for the skyrocketing iron ore prices, sounds like a win win for Australia.

Thanks Lee,
you've made my day -
let the Chinese freeze as a punishment for failing to buy our coal.

I believe our coal is of  a much higher quality than most others....

so yes serve them right...

although the rich at the top wont suffer...

Bobby. wrote on Dec 19^th, 2020 at 7:49pm:

Thanks Lee, you've made my day - let the Chinese freeze as a punishment for failing to buy our coal.

you do understand that the Chinese politburo who are the ones trying to bully the Aussie govt, will never freeze right?  It's just the peasants and the working class who will cop it? The politburo doesn't give a poo about them

Bobby. wrote on Dec 19^th, 2020 at 7:49pm:

Thanks Lee, you've made my day - let the Chinese freeze as a punishment for failing to buy our coal.

So you believe in punishing the average Chinese family for policies that their government has made
That's actually the ideology of a terrorist

John Smith wrote on Dec 20^th, 2020 at 9:08am:

Bobby. wrote on Dec 19th, 2020 at 7:49pm: Thanks Lee, you've made my day - let the Chinese freeze as a punishment for failing to buy our coal. you do understand that the Chinese politburo who are the ones trying to bully the Aussie govt, will never freeze right?  It's just the peasants and the working class who will cop it? The politburo doesn't give a poo about them

Exactly. The issues we are having are with the Chinese government and its myriad agencies,  not the Chinese people.

What's the bet the Chinese Politburo blame those evil round-eyes for their predicament?

John Smith wrote on Dec 20^th, 2020 at 9:08am:

Bobby. wrote on Dec 19th, 2020 at 7:49pm: Thanks Lee, you've made my day - let the Chinese freeze as a punishment for failing to buy our coal. you do understand that the Chinese politburo who are the ones trying to bully the Aussie govt, will never freeze right?  It's just the peasants and the working class who will cop it? The politburo doesn't give a poo about them

John,
you are banned from here.
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1571963355/0#0

I won't dob you in like you dobbed in JaSin.  ;)

"China’s harsh winter and stunning manufacturing recovery this year have pushed up electricity demand across the country’s industrial belt, complicating Beijing’s drive to cut businesses’ power usage and their reliance on polluting coal-fired energy.

The surge in demand also comes as the cold hampers the ability of renewable energy to fill the gap left by a severe coal shortage, raising doubts about the reliability of cleaner sources to power the world’s second-largest economy during critical periods."

"Coal supplies, meanwhile, are tight despite record domestic output in November as a runaway economic recovery sucks up power."

"To address localised power shortages, Beijing has urged coal miners to ramp up output and energy firms to diversify gas sources. It has also allowed customs to clear imported coal that had built up at ports during the summer due to unofficial import quotas aimed at supporting local producers.

While Australian coal has reportedly been excluded from customs clearances, it accounts for less than 3 per cent of China’s total thermal coal usage."

"In the southern provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan, which rely heavily on hydro and renewables, demand this season overwhelmed supply, with coal plants unable to fill the gap after local miners were shut due to environmental and safety reasons and national curbs on output earlier this year, crimping supply.

In Hunan, wind turbines were frozen by an early cold snap this month that brought ice and snow."

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinas-winter-chills-clean-energy-transition-as-factories-fire-up

60 plus ships sitting off China for months loaded with Australian coal and Australia's coal market only accounts for 3% of their demand, china is a huge machine and Australia is like chewy on the their soles.

It seems our coal is of benefit to them though or they wouldn't be freezing in the dark.

Beware the yellow peril.

Funny their wind turbines froze though.