Chinese premier calls for putting aside differences with Australia

Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on Saturday to “put aside differences” with Australia as he embarked on a four-day trip dangling the promise of expanded trade despite their geopolitical rivalry.

Li – China's second most powerful man after President Xi Jinping – landed in Adelaide at the start of a diplomatic mission across the resource-rich continent.

China has gradually lifted heavy trade sanctions imposed in 2020 on Australian exports of wine, timber, barley and beef in a diplomatic break with the former conservative government. Customs duties on lobsters remain.

The measures cost Australian exporters around A$20 billion ($13 billion) a year.

Economic relations between the two countries have eased since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government took power in 2022 and adopted a softer diplomatic approach towards Beijing.

“Mutual respect, seeking common ground while putting aside differences and mutually beneficial cooperation” are essential to the development of China-Australia relations, Li said in a written statement upon his arrival.

“A more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership will be a treasure shared by the people of the two countries.”

The Prime Minister waved at the plane's gate and was greeted on the tarmac at Adelaide Airport by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, other government officials, photographers and television journalists.

Following an equally trade-focused visit to New Zealand, Li is the most senior Chinese official to visit either country since 2017.

The Prime Minister will visit a South Australian wine grower and view two giant pandas on loan from China to Adelaide Zoo, speak with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before enjoying a state lunch in Canberra, then travel to a lithium mine in Western Australia.

The Chinese premier's visit “reflects the improving tone,” said Ryan Neelam, director of the foreign policy program at the Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute.

“The relationship is now more focused on economic opportunities between them than in the past, which have been overshadowed by political and security differences,” he said.

“But at the same time, these differences have not disappeared.”

– Wine and pandas –

Australia has tightened its defense alliance with the United States as it seeks to thwart Beijing's growing diplomatic and military influence over island states scattered across the Pacific region.

China describes the AUKUS security agreement between Washington, London and Canberra – an agreement that would equip Australia with nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines – as a divisive measure that increases the risks of nuclear proliferation.

In the most recent sign of military tensions, Australia accused China of “dangerous and unprofessional” conduct after one of its warplanes allegedly fired flares into the path of a naval helicopter last month. above the Yellow Sea.

Albanese promised to tell Li his behavior was “inappropriate.”

Canberra also reacted with “indignation” when a Beijing court handed down a suspended death sentence to Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun earlier this year.

But such disagreements are likely to be aired behind closed doors, Neelam said.

Instead, Li struck a more friendly tone on the first full day of his trip on Sunday – visiting the famous Barossa wine region in Adelaide, the hometown of Australia's foreign minister, who is credited with helping to stabilize relations with Beijing.

Chinese tariffs had effectively blocked exports of premium Australian wines, worth an estimated A$1 billion a year, until just three months ago.

But first, Li will visit Adelaide Zoo where giant pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni have been on loan from China since 2009.

Hopes are high that the two men – instruments of China's so-called panda diplomacy – will be allowed to stay even though they have produced no offspring during their time together.

djw-bur/mtp

FOX41 YakimaFOX11 TriCities