The leaders of Australia and China yesterday welcomed the improvement in relations between their countries in the past year and emphasized the importance of engaging with each other, despite differences on issues such as defense.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is making the first visit by an Australian leader to China in seven years in a sign of how low relations fell and how they have begun to stabilize.
China, a major market for Australia, has lifted some trade restrictions on Australian products since Albanese’s first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Indonesia in November last year.
Photo: AAP via AP
“The progress we have made in advancing our relationship over that time has been unquestionably very positive,” Albanese said in opening remarks to Xi before the media. “Trade is flowing more freely to the benefit of both countries.”
Xi said that both sides had resumed exchanges of views and worked out some problems.
“The China-Australia relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development,” Xi said. “I’m heartened to see that.”
Relations nosedived in recent years as suspicions of Chinese interference in Australian politics increased. China, in turn, was angered by Australia’s call for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
China levied tariffs and unofficial trade barriers that are estimated to have cost Australian exporters up to A$20 billion (US$13 billion) a year. Those barriers have since been substantially reduced and now cost about A$2 billion.
Even as Albanese has largely sounded upbeat during his visit, Australia is still actively pursuing a security partnership with the UK and the US that China views as an attempt to counter its influence in the region.
Albanese yesterday underscored the importance of high-level dialogue and people-to-people links.
“Where differences arise, it’s important that we have communication,” Albanese told Xi. “From communication comes understanding.”
Albanese’s visit comes near the 50th anniversary of the first trip by an Australian prime minister to China.
“Your visit this time is highly significant, as it builds on the past and ushers in the future,” Xi told Albanese.
Albanese noted the 1973 visit of then-Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam in a post on X that included photos of him and his entourage visiting the Temple of Heaven historic site.
“Since he visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, much has changed,” Albanese wrote.
“But what is constant is that engagement between our two countries remains important,” he wrote.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS