China’s state media is suggesting the country’s government is keen to mend its relationship with Australia in the wake of a change in Australia’s national leadership, and in advance of the 50th anniversary of Australia’s diplomatic engagement with Beijing.
The Chinese government and state media agency Xinhua have both been suggesting that a reset of relations is due after Scott Morrison was the defeated in recent elections. Morrison angered Chinese Communist Party leadership when he called for an investigation into the emergence of COVID in China.
China has already made some diplomatic moves with Australia – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote to the new premier Anthony Albanese last week, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for co-operation with Australia in the Pacific.
China was the number one market for Australian seafood in 2018 before trade tensions started, after which Australian exporters shifted products to Southeast Asia and Japan as well as the U.S.
While a mending of relations might be good for Australian seafood exporters – China effectively barred Australian food and wine from a key market in 2020 – any diplomatic breakthrough may be slow coming due to a complex series of alliances which Australia has entered into the South Pacific. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited a number of South Pacific nations late last month, seeking to sign them onto a series of development and security initiatives drafted by China.
Beijing’s trade retaliation exposed an over-reliance by Australia on a politically fickle Chinese market, leading to calls by various Australian industries, including seafood, for market diversification. China’s appetite to re-engage Australia may also be driven by an unprecedented backing off by the European Union and Washington D.C. in their relations with China, a trend accelerated in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Having up until recently sought to punish European states diplomatically and in trade relations, Beijing has been seeking better relations with its biggest trading partners, the E.U. and U.S., despite a ramping up anti-western rhetoric in state-controlled media.
Photo courtesy of the Australian Government
