….fires another shot in diplomatic war: Beijing moves to buy the biggest mobile network in the Pacific Islands to expand influence in the region –

A Chinese state-owned mobile company is set to buy the largest phone network in the Pacific Islands.

China Mobile’s move to buy Digicel in a deal worth up to $1.4billion. This development trails the action Beijing took to suspend imports of Australian beef from four major suppliers on Tuesday and suggested imposing huge tariffs on Australian barley. 

A leading Australian telecommunications executive is understood to be looking to rival the bid to buy Digicel by the world’s largest mobile network operator.

Such an intervention would require a loan guarantee from the federal government though, The Australian Financial Review reported.

China Mobile has been doing due diligence since the beginning of 2020 on Digicel – which is weighed down by $US6.7billion ($AUD10.4billion) in debt.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said it is monitoring the sale and Australian security forces voiced concerns about the impact a deal could have China’s influence in the Pacific region.

It follows the federal government stepping in two years ago to fund two-thirds of the Coral Sea Cable System – a telecommunications cable linking Sydney, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

The move prevented Chinese mobile giant Huawei – who the Australian government banned from contributing to the National Broadband Network in 2012 – from completing the project. 

Canberra is thought to be concerned about the strategic foothold China would be able to gain in the Pacific Islands – traditionally considered to be within Australia’s sphere of influence. 

Australia is the world’s largest donor to the region, with Australian governments providing $USD6.5billion ($AUD10.1billion) in aid to the Pacific islands between 2011 and 2017.

On Monday, Beijing threatened to impose an 80 per cent tariff on barley imports, which peaked at nearly $1.5billion in 2017. 

China a day later suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers as fears grow other industries could be the next casualties of worsening diplomatic tensions.  

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian slammed Australia’s pursuit of an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus for ‘political reasons’ on Tuesday.

‘Mutual respect should be the basis of good relations,’ he told reporters in Beijing.

Zhao warned against ‘using the epidemic to engage in political manipulation’. 

He said the beef ban was due to quarantine violations.

‘Chinese customs has continuously found that multiple batches of beef products exported to China by individual Australian companies have violated the inspection and quarantine requirements,’ he said.

But he denied any connection between the beef ban and a potential inquiry into how coronavirus started.

‘They are two different things,’ Zhao insisted.