Albanese becomes first prime minister to set foot in China in seven years

Anthony Albanese landed in Shanghai shortly after 8pm on Saturday (AEDT), the first Australian prime minister to visit China since 2016.

“It’s very good to be here. I look forward to the visit,” Albanese said in brief remarks after being met by a large group of officials and welcomed by a schoolgirl with a bouquet of flowers.

The Australian ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, who has held the Beijing posting since 2019, was at the airport to greet Albanese alongside the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, and the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Xie Dong.

Graham Fletcher, Australia’s ambassador to China, greets Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Hongqiao Airport, Shanghai.Credit: AAP

Asked about his priorities for the trip just before he departed from Darwin on Saturday morning, Albanese said the visit “in itself is a very positive thing” and championed his government’s “stabilisation” of the relationship as having secured the removal of China’s sanctions on a range of Australian exports including hay, timber and barley.

“We want to make sure that any impediments between our trade are removed, that they’re done in a constructive way. My approach towards this relationship has been patient, deliberate and measured,” he said.

Albanese will meet China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing after an appearance at the Great Hall, but will first lead a delegation of Australian businesses to Shanghai’s China International Import Expo, where Premier Li Qiang is set to address attendees.

A local schoolgirl presents a gift of flowers to the prime minister.Credit: AAP

Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell will also attend the expo but his lobbying efforts on behalf of Australia’s lobster and beef industries – which remain under trade restrictions – will be curtailed as he must cut short his visit and return to Australia early for Senate duties.

Albanese did not address the minister’s intended early departure in a press conference in Darwin on Saturday, where he pledged to urge the release of imprisoned Australian writer Yang Hengjun when he meets with Xi.

“I’ll be saying that Dr Yang’s case needs to be resolved. And I’ll be speaking about his human rights, the nature of the detention and the failure to have transparent processes,” Albanese said.

Trade Minister Don Farrell greeting Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trip to Beijing in May.Credit: AP

Farrell, who left for Shanghai on Friday, is now expected to return to Australia two days early on Sunday evening.

Government sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Farrell had been forced to return early after Finance Minister Katy Gallagher fell ill. This would have left Labor with just one minister – Agriculture Minister Murray Watt – to respond during question time when the Senate sits from Monday.

Farrell will now meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Saturday evening to discuss trade issues before leaving on Sunday.

In an interview before his departure to Shanghai, Farrell was optimistic that the lifting of restrictions on Australia’s live lobster trade and a group of beef abattoirs could be under way before the year’s end, bringing to a close the $20 billion in trade strikes China imposed on half-a-dozen Australian industries in 2020.

“I’ve been reluctant all along to make predictions in terms of timing because it’s just difficult to know what goes on in the Chinese system, but I would be hopeful that with a bit of goodwill we’ll have the pathways by Christmas to resolve all of our outstanding impediments,” Farrell said.

“We are now down to $1 billion [in restrictions]. Both myself and the prime minister will be putting the argument to the Chinese government that it’s time to lift those as well.”

Before the schedule change, Farrell had been expected to tour the Shanghai expo and stop at a WA producers’ booth to speak with representatives from the Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative, one of the largest rock lobster processors in the world, which exported 97 per cent of its catch to China before the trade ban hit.

A spokesman for the co-operative said they were “hopeful there will be positive outcomes as a result of the prime minister and trade minister’s trip to China. It’s the most positive sign we’ve had to date”.

Australian wine producers are also hoping to have their bottles back on Beijing shelves by March next year after China agreed last month to conduct an “expedited” review of the wine tariffs that is expected to take five months.

Australian wine brand Penfolds will have a stall at the Shanghai expo. Penfolds managing director Tom King said there was “increased enthusiasm from our local team and customers as we look towards the possibility of Australian wine once again being shared in China”.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Albanese must ensure the visit was a “working visit of strength and substance ahead of symbolism or ceremony”, listing Yang’s release and the immediate removal of trade tariffs as the top priorities.

“There’s no reason for these tariffs to be in place a day longer than, frankly, after discussions are had between the prime minister and President Xi. These tariffs should be removed tomorrow,” Birmingham said.

China is widely expected to use Albanese’s visit to lobby for Australia’s support for it to join the trade grouping called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Senior Australian officials have insisted there will be no change to Australia’s position, pointing to previous statements by Albanese and Farrell about the “high standards” for entry and that any new members must be unanimously approved.

Justin Bassi, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said while trade was high on the agenda it was vital that economics and security were seen as inseparable objectives. He said Albanese was correct to emphasise that the trans-Pacific partnership was fundamentally about rules and co-operation.

“It’s inconceivable that China could be regarded as meeting that threshold while it continues to employ economic coercion, to steal intellectual property and use unfair trade measures such as subsidies to make their own companies more competitive,” Bassi said.

Farrell on a previous trip to China.

Dr Benjamin Herscovitch, a researcher in Australia-China relations at the Australian National University, said Beijing would likely push for access to Australia’s critical mineral industry, but that entry to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership was its overarching goal.

“The goal of getting into the CPTPP means Beijing had to unwind those trade restrictions and restart dialogue with Australia. I’d expect a really strong push on that front from the Chinese government, and they’d be looking longer term to wear away Australia’s resistance to China becoming a member,” he said.

with David Crowe

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