IRIA News

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Shanghai on November 4, 2023, becoming the first Australian leader to visit China in seven years. He seeks to deepen economic cooperation with China and stabilize the shaky relationship between Beijing and Canberra. 

Australian Prime Minister’s three-day (November 4-7) trip to China comes at a time when the geopolitical relations between the two countries are plummeting due to Canberra’s increasing military ties with Washington. 

Albanese was received by senior diplomats at Shanghai airport. Soon after, the Australian Prime Minister made his way to Shanghai’s International Exports Expo.

The Australian prime minister emphasized the importance of China-Australia economic cooperation and said that Australia’s national interest was served by having a positive, constructive, respectful, and open dialogue with China. “It is in Australia’s interests to have a positive and constructive and open and respectful dialogue with our major trading partner,” he said.

Albanese met with the Chinese Premier Li Qiang and later participated in a banquet hosted in his honor in Shanghai on Sunday. Albanese vowed to keep working with China. “It is in all of our interests to have a relationship where there is dialogue,” he told an audience which included Li Qiang.

Albanese’s visit comes near the 50th anniversary of the first trip by an Australian prime minister to China.

Albanese meets Xi Jinping

On the third day of his trip, Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, becoming the first Australian prime minister to engage in a direct meeting with the Chinese leader in the last seven years.

Both leaders welcomed the gradual improvement in ties and emphasized the importance of engaging with each other despite differences. The Australian leader underscored the importance of high-level dialogue and people-to-people links. “Where differences arise, it’s important that we have communication,” Albanese said. “From communication comes understanding.”

Xi emphasized that the trip to China by Albanese signifies a bridge between the past and future. China and Australia, both key members of the G20 within the Asia-Pacific region, share a foundation of historical cooperation and do not have fundamental conflicts of interest. This allows them to become trustworthy partners in mutual success, Xi said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to improve trade relations and ease strained ties. @AlboMP became the first Australian prime minister in 7 years to visit China, signaling a warming of ties 🇨🇳🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/r7R3maFXqC

— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) November 6, 2023

President Xi “urged both sides to jointly build a China-Australia relationship featuring equality, seeking common ground while shelving differences for mutually beneficial cooperation and pushing forward their comprehensive strategic partnership,” Chinese media reported.

Australia seeks dialogue with China

During his visit, Albanese emphasized the importance of open communication and collaboration in addressing shared challenges such as climate change, trade, and regional security. He expressed his desire to build bridges and find common ground, emphasizing that dialogue is the key to resolving differences and strengthening ties.

After joint efforts of both sides, China and Australia have resumed exchanges in various fields and embarked on the right path of improving and developing relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed on Monday.

Australia will continue to engage in our national interest. And where differences arise, dialogue is essential. pic.twitter.com/NVt1rN1rT5

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 6, 2023

Australian prime minister’s trip to China comes only a few days after concluding a strategic trip to the United States. During a bilateral meeting at the White House, President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese stressed the critical importance of the U.S.-Australia relationship and the importance of managing a competitive relationship with China. Biden warned Beijing about its recent harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, however, Albanese took a rather careful approach while talking about China during the joint press conference in Washington.

China and Australia trade ties

In Beijing, Albanese said that “China is our most important trading partner. It represents more than 25 percent of our exports, and one in four of our jobs relies upon our trade. So, it’s an important relationship.” He added that the evolving China-Australia relationship requires consistent, diplomatic engagement in the face of regional strategic competition.

“The progress we have made in advancing our relationship over that time has been unquestionably very positive,” Albanese said in opening remarks to Xi. “Trade is flowing more freely to the benefit of both countries.”

It is 50 years since Gough Whitlam became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit China.

Since he visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing much has changed.

But what is constant is that engagement between our two countries remains important. pic.twitter.com/NInb093o3J

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 6, 2023

Xi said that he was heartened to see that the “China-Australia relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development”. He called for the full utilization of the potential in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and expanded cooperation in emerging fields like climate change and the green economy. While encouraging both nations to uphold the global and regional free trade system and a favorable business environment, Xi cautioned against any actions that might disrupt the stability of the Asia-Pacific region.

Xi and Albanese paid tribute to Gough Whitlam, for his role in establishing official diplomatic relations between China and Australia 50 years ago.

Australia and China aim to smooth strained ties

During the recent meeting, Albanese and Xi Jinping showed keenness toward engaging in constructive discussions and seek areas of mutual interest.

The Australian prime minister’s visit comes at a crucial time, as both countries are looking to bring stability to the relationship that had turned rocky in recent years. Trade disputes, cybersecurity concerns, and differing stances on international issues were among the major hurdles in the ties.

The visit is intended to reboot the diplomatic relationship after a period of significant turbulence that began with Australia’s decision to lean towards its Western partners. The patch of strained relationship started when Australia decided to exclude Chinese company Huawei from the rollout of the 5G network in 2018.

The bilateral rift intensified and spiraled into a trade war after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic in 2020, accusing Beijing of political interference and spying, as well as human rights. In 2021, Canberra decided to join the AUKUS agreement with the U.S. and United Kingdom, which is solely aimed at countering China’s increasing naval strength in the Indo-Pacific region.

In return, Beijing slapped punitive tariffs on a slew of Australian commodities ranging from coal to barley as well as Australian wine as the relationship descended into a deep freeze.

At the same time, China also depends on Australian products and natural resources. Beijing’s trade war with Canberra has taken a toll on a lot of products, except the key raw material such as iron ore and liquefied natural gas, that it imported from Australia. Neither of these commodities was subjected to Chinese restrictions indicating that China also depends on Australia.