Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said he would visit China early next month to meet President Xi Jinping (習近平), making the announcement hours before he departed to meet with US President Joe Biden.
The Chinese visit dates were confirmed a day after Beijing agreed to review the crippling tariffs it levied on Australian wine that have effectively blocked trade with the winemakers’ biggest export market since 2020.
Albanese would become the first Australian prime minister to visit China in seven years when he travels to Beijing and Shanghai on Nov. 4-7.
Photo: AP
“It’s in Australia’s interest to have good relations with China,” Albanese told reporters at Australian Parliament House, adding that his focus in the coming days would be on the visit to the US.
“With Australia’s closest partner, talking about the future of our alliance, the future which has been upgraded by the AUKUS arrangements, a future based upon our common values, our commitment to democracy, and our commitment to the international rule of law and stable order throughout the globe,” Albanese said, using the acronym for the military alliance of Australia, the UK and the US.
Under the trilateral pact, the US and Britain are to cooperate to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by US nuclear technology to counter a more assertive China.
Albanese said he would meet with Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing and then attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
The visit to China and a potential breakthrough in the wine dispute mark a further repair in relations since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won elections last year after nine years of conservative government in Australia.
China has agreed to review its tariffs on Australian wine over five months, Albanese’s office said.
In return, Australia has suspended its complaint against its free trade partner to the WTO.
China confirmed that the two sides had reached a consensus on resolving the issues “appropriately” regarding Australian wine.
“We are willing to work with Australia to continue to meet each other halfway through dialogue and consultation and jointly promote the stable and healthy development of bilateral economic and trade relations,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said.
A similar dispute resolution plan led to China removing tariffs on Australian barley.
Albanese said that reopening the Chinese wine market would be worth more than A$1 billion (US$631.4 million) to exporters.
“We’re very confident that this will result in once again Australian wine, a great product, being able to go to China free of the tariffs which have been imposed by China,” Albanese said.
“It is important that we stabilize our relationship with China. That is in the interests of Australia and China, and it is indeed in the interests of the world that we have stable relations and that is what this visit will represent,” he added.
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