Free to Read: Chinese Premier Hails Warming Ties During Australia Trip
Beijing is ready to work with Canberra to ‘build a more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership,’ Li Qiang says
Premier Li Qiang shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the ninth China-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting in Canberra on Monday. Photo: Xinhua
China-Australia relations have reached a “comprehensive turnaround,” Premier Li Qiang said during a state visit Down Under this week, as the two nations continue to mend ties that had frayed over trade and geopolitical disputes.
“China is ready to work with Australia to sustain and build up the hard-won positive momentum in bilateral ties and jointly build a more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership,” Li said during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra Monday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
Following the meeting, the two sides agreed to strengthen engagement in a number of areas and signed cooperation documents on trade, education, climate change and culture, according to a joint statement.
China has also added Australia to its visa-free entry list, Li said, coming days after the same perk was offered to New Zealanders as part of Beijing’s efforts to revive inbound tourism after the pandemic.
Li also confirmed that China will continue giant panda conservation research cooperation with Australia. China will provide a pair of young giant pandas to the Adelaide Zoo to replace the only pair of the animals in the southern hemisphere, which are set to return home this year, according to a statement from the Australian Prime Minister’s office.
Li’s four-day trip, which began on Saturday, is the first visit by a Chinese premier to Australia in seven years. Economic and diplomatic relations between Beijing and Canberra have been warming since the election of Albanese’s Labor government in May 2022.
Li visited Adelaide Zoo on Sunday morning and dined at a winery of the Penfolds brand in Adelaide that afternoon — a symbolic move after China removed punitive tariffs on Australian wine in March, ending a three-year campaign of trade pressure on Canberra.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner. Among Australia’s major exports to China are iron and copper ore, coal, wool and barley.
Wine imports plummeted in recent years due to the increased duties. In the first half of 2023, the share of Australian wine in China’s total wine imports dropped to 0.14%, from 27.46% in 2020, according to data from China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Li’s trip comes after Albanese made a state visit to China in November, when he met with President Xi Jinping as well as Li. The two sides agreed to resume a series of high-level talks, including the annual meeting between China’s premier and Australia’s prime minister.
“The recommencement of our regular Annual Leaders’ Meetings has restored the high-level dialogue, which is central to this stabilization,” Albanese said at a Monday press conference, adding that “dialogue is how we manage differences. It’s how we also share opportunity.”