BEIJING — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a go to to China this weekend meant to shore up commerce relations between the 2 international locations.
Albanese met with Shanghai Celebration Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the primary in a collection of high-level exchanges that may embrace conferences with Chinese language President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the Nationwide Folks’s Congress.
Albanese is main “a really massive enterprise delegation” to China, which speaks to the significance of the financial relations between Australia and China, he instructed Chinese language state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday.
Throughout a weeklong journey, Albanese is ready to satisfy enterprise, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu together with a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his workplace mentioned.
It’s Albanese’s second visit to China since his center-left Labor Celebration authorities was first elected in 2022. The get together was reelected in Could with an elevated majority.
Albanese has managed to influence Beijing to take away a collection of official and unofficial commerce boundaries launched beneath the earlier conservative authorities that value Australian exporters greater than 20 billion Australian {dollars} ($13 billion) a yr.
Beijing severed communications with the earlier administration over points together with Australia’s requires an unbiased inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19. However Albanese needs to cut back Australia’s financial dependence on China, a free commerce accomplice.
“My authorities has labored very arduous to diversify commerce … and to extend {our relationships} with different international locations within the area, together with India and Indonesia and the ASEAN international locations,” Albanese mentioned earlier than his go to, referring to the 10-member Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations.
“However the relationship with China is a vital one, as is {our relationships} in the case of exports with the north Asian economies of South Korea and Japan,” he added.
Chinese language state-run Xinhua Information Company, in an editorial Sunday, described China’s relationship with Australia as “steadily enhancing” and present process “contemporary momentum.”
“There are not any elementary conflicts of curiosity between China and Australia,” the editorial said. “By managing variations by way of mutual respect and specializing in shared pursuits, the 2 sides can obtain frequent prosperity and profit.”