Beijing Told to Stop Economic Coercion Before Bilateral Ties With Australia Can Resume

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends the Quad Leaders’ summit in Tokyo, Japan, on May 24, 2022. Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images

New Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on Beijing to drop its coercive trade restrictions before considering a reset of bilateral ties.

“It is China that has imposed sanctions on Australia,” Albanese told reporters on June 13. “They need to remove those sanctions in order to improve relations between Australia and China.”

The prime minister’s comments come after Wang Wenbin, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said Australia could not hope for an improvement in bilateral ties by simply operating on “auto-pilot.”

“A reset requires concrete actions,” Wang said.

Beijing’s economic coercion swept up eight major Australian exports—beef, seafood, wine, honey, lamb, wheat, coal and timber—after previous Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.

The Chinese Communist Party also delivered a list containing 14 “grievances” that Australia needed to address before diplomatic relations could be normalised.

They included a demand for the government to stop the press reporting negatively on China; stop building alliances with Indo-Pacific partners; rescind the ban on Huawei from Australia’s 5G network; and remove foreign interference laws.

Australian wine (2nd R) is displayed amongst other wines at a shop in Beijing on Dec. 23, 2020. Australian wine has been subject to harsh tariffs from Beijing since 2020. (Noel Celis/AFP) via Getty Images)

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, also the defence minister, was able to meet with his Chinese defence counterpart at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, held in Sinagapore.

“It is always a good thing that people have dialogue and have a discussion, and it’s been something that’s been missing in the last few years. But there need to be concrete steps taken going forward,” Albanese said.

“It is China that has changed the nature of the relationship.

China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe attends the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 12, 2022. Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images

“But China needs to remove the sanctions that they have put in place. There’s no reason for them to be there. We are a trading nation. We’ve fulfilled all of our obligations as part of the contracts and arrangements that have been put in place. And we produce good products as well. And those sanctions hurt Australia. But they also hurt China.”

The prime minister also said that the federal government would “continue to stand up for Australian values.”

“They are values of human rights, but they’re also values of interaction through the economy in what is a globalised world. And Australia wants to trade with China. We want to trade in a way that benefits both countries,” he said.

The freeze on diplomatic relations with Australia was broken at the Dialogue when Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe hosted Australia’s Marles for dinner.

Marles welcomed the meeting and said they had “very frank and full” exchanges.

“It’s three years since defence ministers of our two countries have met. This was an important meeting, one which the Australian government welcomes,” he told reporters.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands at attention during a wreath-laying ceremony at Indonesia's national heroes cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 6, 2022. Ed Wray/Getty Images