Australia’s troubled ties with China in recent years have had far-reaching costs – as sweeping trade curbs from Beijing devastated the Australian wine industry, hit the livelihoods of farmers and fishers across the country, and impacted billions of dollars in trade.
Australia’s troubled ties with China in recent years have had far-reaching costs – sweeping trade curbs from Beijing devastated the Australian wine industry, hit the livelihoods of farmers and fishers across the country, and impacted billions of dollars in trade.
At the time it was seen as political retaliation for then prime minister Scott Morrison’s calls for an international inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, though relations had been deteriorating for some time. Albanese’s trip also carries symbolic overtones, marking 50 years since the first official visit by an Australian leader to Communist China after the two countries established ties.
“The fact that it is the first visit in seven years to our major trading partner is a very positive step,” he said, according to Reuters.A range of tensions, however, will cast a shadow over the proceedings. Analysts say the meetings could lay the groundwork for expanded communication, but won’t be enough to turn back the clock on what has now become a fragile relationship.
The election of Albanese’s Labor government last May allowed for a shift in those tensions, with Beijing gradually rolling back many of its trade controls since then – including on barley, timber, and coal – as the new Australian leadership dialed down the rhetoric. For Beijing, the Australian leader’s visit provides an opportunity to push for more Chinese access to Australia’s resources and renewable energy sectors, according to Elena Collinson, who manages research analysis at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute.
There, the two leaders expressed their shared concern over “China’s excessive maritime claims” in the South China Sea.
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