Australia rehearses a rapprochement with China

The Australian government has increased its diplomatic moves to get closer to China, with the aim of getting Beijing to remove the harsh trade sanctions imposed since 2021 on Australian products. The way was definitively paved after the meeting of the Australian premier Anthony Albanese with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, during the G20 summit held in Indonesia.

Australia is also stepping up its efforts to resolve formal WTO disputes over China’s sanctions on Australian barley and wine. These are sanctions that have been especially painful for Australian trade, dependent on more than 40% of trade with China. Canberra is footing the cost of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s request for an “independent investigation” into the origins of COVID-19. This unleashed the fury of the Chinese authorities, who responded with unprecedented commercial retaliation.

In the framework of this attempt at rapprochement under the leadership of the new Albanian Labor premier, Australia has vindicated its own foreign policy principles and values, as well as its historical ties of friendship with China. This despite the fact that the relationship has recently gone through mutual accusations of interference and Canberra has decisively turned towards an alignment with Washington in the framework of the conflict between superpowers.

Xi Jinping exchanges congratulatory messages with Australian Governor-General David Hurley and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

For China, Australia is also important as a major supplier of iron and other raw materials. Beijing is also interested in rebuilding the relationship, but without making concessions. Australia’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, was optimistic about the gradual progress in relations with China, after the bilateral summit in Indonesia, beyond the tensions and differences that persist between the two countries.

Sources on both sides have hinted that both Australia and China have raised possible solutions to the ongoing trade dispute. Australian business groups and exporters are now hopeful that China will be willing to quietly drop informal bans on several Australian imports in the coming months. Everything indicates that the commercial conflict will end up being resolved or, at least, it will begin to move shortly.

Article republished from the Bulletin of the Asian Affairs Committee of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) with the authorization of the corresponding authorities. Link to the newsletter: http://cari.org.ar/pdf/boletin_asia8.pdf