How China and Australia’s conflict influences the lack of urea solution
The lack of urea solution
The impact of Australian coal regulation
The right solution by the Korean government for the urea shortage
[해외 특파원 1기 / 김정욱 기자] Urea solution (CH4N2O), a transparent liquid that reduces the smoke from diesel cars, has risen up as a really complicated problem in the world. This is because urea solution is a very important liquid that needs to be supplied for at least 90% of the vehicles that are being used today. Even emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles, are also expected to lack the amount of urea solution soon, and the deteriorating situation of COVID-19 is making this problem more confusing. The main reason for the lack of urea solution is due to the export restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. However, the Chinese government is not 100% responsible for this incident, due to the coal regulation incurred by the Australian government, which will be further explained in this article.
Firstly, it is a fact that the problem of supplying the urea solution came from the inside of the Chinese government, such as the lack of fertilizer made. However, a lot of people tend to believe that this complication originated from a diplomatic conflict. This means that the political and economical collision that has been made by the Chinese and Australian governments is the cause for South Korea’s and for the world’s confusion. Coal is a crucial resource that is necessary for the production of urea solution since coal is required to extract the chemicals of the urea solution. Nevertheless, the issue was that a significant portion of this coal was imported from Australia. Australia and China have previously had diplomatic problems, such as the regulation of the participation of Huawei’s network in Australia or the prohibition of the importation of Australian wood, wine, copper and coal. Hence, the two countries have been pressurizing each other with countless trade barriers on products. Therefore, Australia has set the current export restriction in order to decrease the supply of coal to China.
To solve this problem the Korea government announced to operate various diplomatic channels to address the issue to convey concerns to China and strongly request early inspection before exporting urea solution. Additionally, in order to prevent the shortage of its own components’ supply, China has made sure to check on ureas and potassium fertilizers that could have been exported without quarantine or inspection. Looking at the conflict between China and Australia and how Korea got affected by it, there is a South Korean old saying, “Shrimps burst in a whale fight.” In order for shrimp to survive well in the wide sea it seems that “smart wisdom to look far away” is needed nationally. Whilst it is no place for South Korea to interfere in the protectionist disagreement between China and Australia, their disaccord should not affect other countries worldwide.
