Australia-China ministers meet amid rocky trade impasse
There’s growing suspicion China isn’t being an “honest broker” by refusing to drop Australian trade impediments after the foreign ministers met to hash out a path forward.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong pressed her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to drop the remaining barriers against Australian rock lobster imports as the relationship smooths after trade tensions cooled under the Albanese government.
Billions of dollars of Chinese trade tariffs against Australian products including wine, barley and meat have fallen but, despite the thaw, there remain points of contention, Senator Wong says.
“We both understand the points on which we disagree won’t simply disappear if we leave them in silence,” Senator Wong said in her opening remarks.
“As the Chinese saying goes, we are crossing the river by feeling for the stones, to see what works for both countries in 2024.”
China expert Ben Herscovitch said the improved relationship between Canberra and Beijing was “plateauing to a certain extent”.
Despite what he called “a positive trend” in the trading relationship, residual restrictions on live lobster and two red meat exporters had drawn Canberra’s ire, he said.
“There’s growing frustration and wariness to the extent China is an honest broker when it comes to the relationship repair,” Dr Herscovitch told AAP.
Senator Wong told her counterpart China needed to play a productive role on the international stage.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted Premier Li Qiang in Australia in June, when the lobster ban was expected to fall.
Dr Herscovitch said China’s coercive trade policies hampered its long-term bid to join a trans-Pacific trading pact known as the CPTPP.
China would undoubtedly ramp up pressure on Australia to help it join the pact when Canberra takes over the role of chair in 2025, but it was unlikely to get enough support to join, he said.
Ascension into the pact was by unanimous agreement and members such as Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia wary of China’s aggressive trade policy could make any application dead on arrival, Dr Herscovitch said.
Having punitive trade impediments against a member didn’t help China’s long-term chances either, but this wouldn’t stop Beijing aggressively lobbying Australia when it became chair, he said.
Speaking in Australia, Mr Albanese said the two nations were “getting there” on lobster trade.
“We’ve improved relations and I’ve made it clear to my Chinese counterparts that it is in their interest to receive the wonderful products that come from Australia,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
Agriculture department officials have travelled to China to smooth out the remaining impediments after Beijing demanded Australian lobster exporters jump through further regulatory hoops.
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