Australian Prime Minister Visits China After 7 Years... Discusses Trade Disputes and China's TPP Membership

Detained Writer Yang Hengjun Likely to Also Request Release

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia
Photo by Yonhap News

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China on the 4th (local time). It is the first time in seven years since an Australian prime minister visited China in 2016. Although the two countries experienced trade conflicts, relations have been expected to improve since China withdrew anti-dumping tariffs on Australia last August.

According to Australian news agency AAP and others, Prime Minister Albanese will depart from Australia to Shanghai, China, on the day. He will then attend the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on the 5th, move to Beijing, and hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 6th. On the 7th, he plans to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang before returning to Australia.

Albanese’s visit to China was conducted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s visit to China. Whitlam was the first Australian prime minister to visit China in 1973 during the Cold War era and established diplomatic relations.

The two leaders are expected to discuss resolving trade conflicts between the two countries during this meeting. Australia hopes to lift China’s export bans on Australian products such as wine worth 1.2 billion Australian dollars (approximately 1 trillion Korean won), beef, and lobster through this summit.

They are also likely to demand the release of Yang Hengjun, a Chinese-Australian writer detained in China on espionage charges. In response, China is expected to request Australia’s support for its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The CPTPP is a multilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that came into effect in 2018 among 11 Asia-Pacific countries including Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Brunei. For new members to join, all existing members must agree.

Australia and China had a close relationship through large-scale trade, but experienced serious conflicts during the conservative government of former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (August 2018?May 2022). In 2018, Australia excluded Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei from the 5G network project in line with the request of the Donald Trump administration in the United States. In retaliation, China imposed high tariffs on more than ten Australian products including wine, beef, barley, and coal.

Diplomatically and in terms of security, frameworks such as the Quad (security dialogue among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India) and AUKUS (security alliance among the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia) were established to counter China. When Australia called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, China strongly opposed it, worsening bilateral relations to the point of nearly severing diplomatic ties.

However, since the Australian Labor Party government took office in May last year, a reconciliation mood has been forming in trade and other sectors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.