Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Australia’s Prime Minister will visit China in early November to meet President Xi Jinping, Canberra confirmed Sunday, as the two trading partners work to repair a once-frosty relationship.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese locked in the trip — from November 4 to November 7 — after China agreed to suspend a festering World Trade Organisation dispute sparked by hefty tariffs on Australian wine.

“I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship,” Mr. Albanese said in a statement.

“I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market.”

China slapped hefty tariffs on key Australian exports such as barley, beef and wine in 2020, flexing its economic muscle at the height of a bitter dispute with Australia’s former conservative government.

But many of these barriers have been slowly wound back as Australia’s centre-left government — elected in May last year — has adopted a less confrontational approach.

There has also been progress on diplomatic fronts, with China earlier this month agreeing to free Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was detained for more than three years on murky espionage charges.

Mr. Albanese’s trip would be the first to China by an Australian Prime Minister since 2016.

“I look forward to engaging with President Xi and Premier Li in Australia’s national interest,” Mr. Albanese added.

Canberra, Australia:

Australia’s prime minister will visit China in early November to meet President Xi Jinping, Canberra confirmed Sunday, as the two trading partners work to repair a once-frosty relationship. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese locked in the trip — from November 4 to November 7 — after China agreed to suspend a festering World Trade Organization dispute sparked by hefty tariffs on Australian wine.

It also follows the release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was deported from China earlier this month after being detained for three years on espionage charges widely seen as politically motivated. 

“I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship,” Albanese said in a statement. 

“I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market.”

The widely anticipated trip would be the first to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016. 

Tariff dispute

China slapped tariffs on key Australian exports such as barley, beef and wine in 2020, flexing its economic muscle at the height of a bitter dispute with Australia’s former conservative government.

It also halted imports of some of Australia’s most significant commodities, including coal, curbing billions of dollars in trade.

China had been angered by Australian laws barring Huawei from 5G contracts and its call for an independent investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many of those trade barriers have been slowly wound back after Australia’s centre-left government — elected in May last year — adopted a less confrontational approach.

This year China has dropped tariffs on Australian barley, ended an import ban on Australian timber, and agreed to resume receiving shipments of Australian coal. 

Over the next five months China will conduct an “expedited review” of its tariffs on Australian wine, Albanese said. 

Australia has threatened to resume complaints to the World Trade Organization if “the duties are not removed at the end of the review”, he added. 

Softening tensions

There has also been progress on diplomatic fronts, with China earlier this month agreeing to free Australian journalist Cheng, a former anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. 

Australia’s government had long campaigned for her release, calling for China to follow “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment”. 

Recent economic data released by Beijing suggests the country’s post-Covid recovery is running out of steam and growth is slowing, heaping pressure on the terms of China’s external trade relationships. 

The softening of tensions with Canberra comes as Chinese President Xi has taken a more pragmatic diplomatic approach with international partners.

Xi had called for relations with Australia to “improve” in a November 2022 meeting with Albanese on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during the bilateral meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 7, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Australia’s Prime Minister confirmed on September 7 he will visit China later this year after talks with China’s premier, who said Beijing was ready to resume bilateral exchanges after years of friction.

The announcement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of a Southeast Asia summit in Indonesia came after a years-long break in relations over political and economic issues including Chinese sanctions on Australian imports.

“I… confirmed the invitation from President Xi,” Mr. Albanese told reporters after talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, adding he “will visit China later this year at a mutually agreeable time”.

The trip would be the first to China by an Australian Prime Minister since 2016.

Mr. Li told Mr. Albanese China was ready to work with Australia to resume exchanges in different areas, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported, without mentioning specific areas.

He said the Asia-Pacific region was the shared home of both countries and Beijing would work with Australia to safeguard peace and stability in the region, according to Xinhua.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing welcomed the planned visit and that “a healthy and stable China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples”.

Mr. Albanese thanked President Xi Jinping for the invitation and said his talks with Mr. Li were “constructive” and “positive”, adding the two countries needed more dialogue to improve relations.

“This was an important meeting. I told Premier Li that we would continue to cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest,” he said.

Mr. Albanese last met Mr. Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in November.

Australian delegation in China

Australia sent a delegation of industry, government, academic, media and arts representatives to Beijing on Thursday for talks with their Chinese counterparts.

Such exchanges were stopped in 2020 and their resumption is the latest sign of a thaw.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said last week those renewed discussions illustrated “another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilising our relationship with China”.

China was angered by Australia’s legislation against overseas influence operations, its ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from 5G contracts, and its call for an independent investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But relations appear to have warmed since the centre-left government in Canberra adopted a less confrontational approach to China following Mr. Albanese’s election victory last year.

However, issues remain in the relationship.

Australia expressed “deep concerns” last month about the “ongoing delays” in the case of an Australian academic jailed in China on espionage charges.

Chinese-born Australian Yang Jun has been jailed since 2019 and said in a note shared with friends and family last month that he feared dying in prison if he did not receive medical attention.

Beijing said it was handling his case properly, and that it was “a country ruled by law”.

Australia will send a delegation of industry, government, academic, media and arts representatives to Beijing for a dialogue with their Chinese counterparts next week to stabilise its relationship with China, Canberra’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Trade, investment, people-to-people links as well as regional and international security are among the issues up for discussion in next Thursday’s talks, Foreign Minster Penny Wong’s office said.

The high-level dialogue had been held annually from 2014 until it was stopped in 2020.

In a statement, Ms. Wong added that the talks represent “another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilising our relationship with China”.

Former Trade Minister Craig Emerson will head the Australian delegation, which also includes their former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop.

“Since it was established, the dialogue has been an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding with Chinese participants and to find common ground,” Mr. Emerson said in a statement.

Li Zhaoxing, China’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, will lead Beijing’s delegation.

The dialogue’s resumption is the latest example of ties thawing between Beijing and Canberra after years of tension.

China had been angered by Australia’s legislation against overseas influence operations, its barring Huawei from 5G contracts and its call for an independent investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But relations appear to have warmed since the centre-left government in Canberra adopted a less confrontational approach to China following its election last year.