/ world today news/ A significant improvement is expected in trade ties between China and Australia, which have stepped up efforts to strengthen economic cooperation after the recent resumption of high-level visits and dialogues.
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell visited Beijing last week and participated in a meeting of the 16th Intergovernmental Economic Commission together with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao.
During their talks, Wang Wentao urged Australia to continue to work together with China to expand common interests, and urged the two countries to address each other’s concerns on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. According to the minister, the two economies largely complement each other and have fruitful economic and trade cooperation, which creates a good basis for them to continue looking for points of contact on a number of issues.
Wang Wentao said China is willing to work with Australia to expand cooperation and expressed hope that the country will provide a stable business environment and treat Chinese companies and products fairly.
Don Farrell pointed out that the two countries can finally boast of significant progress in bilateral economic and trade relations, while judiciously dealing with their key issues and frictions in the field. Australia is keen to strengthen cooperation with China through multilateral and regional platforms such as the World Trade Association (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Farrell said.
The current meeting of the Intergovernmental Economic Commission is the first such meeting since 2017, and there are high hopes for improving bilateral relations, said Chen Hong, president of the China Association for Australian Studies and director of the Center for Australian Studies at East China Normal University. “The meeting can be seen as a starting point to reset bilateral relations, which reached a very low point due to the anti-China policy of the previous Australian government,” he says.
In May 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that it would suspend indefinitely all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue. Trade and economic activities between the two countries have been severely affected amid deteriorating political ties. As a result, bilateral trade was $220.91 billion in 2022, down 3.9 percent year-on-year. Australian exports to China totaled $142.09 billion, down 13.1 percent. A number of previously popular Australian commodities, including coal, wine and lobster, have lost ground in the Chinese market as local companies have begun to look for alternative suppliers amid deteriorating relations.
However, the outlook for bilateral ties has begun to improve again since the Australian Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese came to power last year. Official contacts and high-level interaction are now on the rise.
“We welcome the Albanese Government’s efforts to stabilize and improve Australia’s relationship with China. In the Doing Business in China survey we launched in December last year, the ‘state of bilateral relations’ was identified as the biggest risk affecting future investment in China by Australian companies,” said Vaughn Barber, chairman of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce (AustCham China). “The Australian business community in China welcomes Minister Farrell’s visit. Removing the remaining “trade barriers” to some of Australia’s trade with China would eliminate another key challenge highlighted by respondents to our survey. This would be a win-win outcome for Australian exporters and Chinese importers and end-users,” said Barber.
“Improving the previously difficult relationship has been a top-down process since the Bali summit between the leaders of the two countries last November, and the momentum is gathering momentum,” said Chen Hun.
He predicted that China and Australia will find more opportunities for cooperation, including in the areas of clean energy and the green economy. During economic talks late last week, the two ministers agreed on several issues, including relaunching the joint committee of the free trade agreement, strengthening environmental and low-carbon cooperation and supporting business-to-business contacts from the two sides in e-commerce.
Don Farrell’s visit followed visits by Australian state leaders including Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria in March, and Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan in April.
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