The new Australian government has requested China to suspend trade restrictions in order to restart a bilateral relationship that had reached new lows under the previous administration.
The Chinese premier’s letter of congratulations to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his election victory was generally interpreted as a lifting of Beijing’s two-year prohibition on high-level government contact with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang stated that China is willing to collaborate with Australia to strengthen the bilateral relationship.
But, according to Albanese, China, not Australia, has changed since his center-left Labor Party was last in power in 2013.
In recent years, China has erected a slew of official and unofficial trade barriers to a variety of Australian commodities worth billions of dollars, including coal, wine, barley, beef, and seafood.
“It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia,” Albanese told reporters during a Tokyo summit with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
“There is no justification for doing that and that’s why they should be removed,” Albanese added.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers also urged China to remove trade restrictions between the free-trade partners quickly.
“We would certainly like to see those sanctions and those tariffs lifted. They are damaging our economy. They are making life harder for some of our employers and workers here in Australia and so obviously we would like to see those measures lifted,” Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday.
Before Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong boarded a plane to return to Australia from Tokyo, he thanked Australian voters for bestowing upon him the “extraordinary honour of representing Australia at important international forums” in Saturday’s election.
“I will always act with integrity.” I will always act with honesty in my dealings with other leaders and our friends and partners,” Albanese said, in comments that could be aimed at his predecessor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
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