Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to ensure his country will “play a productive role on the international stage” by continuing to reduce tariff barriers against imports of Australian goods.
Despite trade tariffs against wine, barley, meat, and other products having fallen, Senator Wong said there remain points of contention, which she raised with Wang at a bilateral meeting in New York on Sept. 25. There, she pressed him to drop the remaining barriers against Australian rock lobster imports.
“We both understand the points on which we disagree won’t simply disappear if we leave them in silence,” 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.”
Wong told Wang that Beijing needed to play a productive role on the international stage.
Australian National University economist 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 trade relationship, restrictions on live lobster and two red meat exporters remained contentious.
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“There’s growing frustration and wariness to the extent China is an honest broker when it comes to the relationship repair,” Herscovitch said.He warned that Beijing’s coercive trade policies are hampering its bid to join a trans-Pacific trading pact known as the CPTPP.
Beijing would undoubtedly ramp up pressure on Canberra to support its bid when Australia becomes chair of the trading bloc in 2025, but was unlikely to get enough support to join, he predicted.
A new member can only join the CPTPP if there is unanimous agreement between exiting members, and countries such as Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia—all wary of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) aggressive trade policy—could refuse.
Having punitive trade impediments against a member didn’t help the CCP’s long-term chances either, but this wouldn’t stop Beijing from aggressively lobbying Australia when it became chair, he said.
Meanwhile, 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 said as the two foreign ministers met.
Agriculture department officials have travelled to China in an attempt to clear the remaining hurdles after Beijing demanded Australian lobster exporters meet further regulations.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner. In 2023, China bought $219 billion of Australian exports, 32.5 percent of total exports to the world.
It is Australia’s top overseas market for agriculture, resources and services. Chinese investment in Australia reached almost $88 billion by the end of 2023.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is currently in Beijing to discuss trade with his Chinese counterparts and other business leaders.
