High-powered business delegation prepares for a China visit for the first time since Covid hit
Fortescue Metals boss Andrew Forrest will lead a business delegation to the Boao Forum as part of a thawing of relations between Australia and China.
Australian business leaders are due to start heading to China next month when Fortescue Metals executive chairman Andrew Forrest leads a business delegation to the Boao Forum as part of a thawing of relations between the two nations.
With China reopening to the world in January and political ties with Australia improving, business leaders are heading back to China to visit their operations and to attend conferences.
Most Australian business leaders have not visited China since 2019, due to China’s borders being closed in early 2020.
The Boao Forum, which has not been held “in person” for several years due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, will be held in late March.
It will be preceded by a meeting of global business leaders in Beijing when the revival of the annual China Development Forum is expected to attract Australian business leaders.
Those headed for China include Business Council global engagement committee chair Warwick Smith, Treasury Wine Estates chief executive Tim Ford, and Australia China Business Council president and King & Wood Mallesons international director David Olsson.
Mining giant Rio Tinto confirmed on Thursday that its London-based chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, planned to visit China in the next few months, making his first visit to the company’s biggest customer since taking over the top role in January 2021.
Mr Ford is set to visit TWE’s China headquarters in Shanghai and also attend the Boao Forum. Another delegation of business leaders, a joint visit organised by the Business Council of Australia and the Australia China Business Council, is expected to go to China in April.
“It has been three years for most people in business, government and education and other sectors to have personal meetings (with their counterparts in China) since the Covid slowdown,” Mr Smith told the Australian on Thursday.
“The political issues between Australia and China are also trending to a better place, recognising the benefits to both countries from trade and business.
“China is our largest trading and services partner. Any difficulties can be better dealt with at personal meetings.”
Plans for visits follow news this week that Australian Trade Minister Senator Don Farrell will head to China in the next few months after a video meeting this week with Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao, which is being interpreted as a positive step in the relationship.
Australia-China trade recorded a record in 2022 despite political tensions and Covid-19 travel shutdowns.
Two-way Australian goods trade with China rose from $269bn in 2021 to $285bn last calendar year, according to annual trade figures released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, reinforcing its role as Australia’s largest trading partner.
The figures show that Australian exports dipped slightly from a record $178bn in 2021 to $173bn last year but Australian imports from China rose from $91bn to $112bn over the same period.
“Two-way trade with China was up by $16bn over the year with exports at a near record and imports at record levels,” UTS Australia China Relations Institute director James Laurenceson said.
“It is another reminder that the economic fundamentals of Australian trade with China is hard to throw off course.”
Mr Laurenceson said the record trade figures for last year were significant as they came at a time when the price of iron ore – Australia’s largest single export to China – had eased from record levels in 2021.
“In 2022 prices unwound, but the total export value remained resilient,” he said.
“And this was also during a period when we weren’t selling any coal to China.”
The Global Times reported this week that the first shipment of Australian coal had arrived in China on Wednesday.
Mr Laurenceson said the resilience of Australian exports last year reflected strong commodity prices across the board, including for LNG and lithium which has become an increasingly important export.
“And, all the while, Australia’s imports from China continued their upward trend,” he said.
The latest talks between the trade ministers of both countries have paved the way for a further improvement of the trade relationship which has been hit by the imposition of tariffs on wine and barley, and unofficial restrictions on the importation of coal, rock lobsters, wood and beef.
Commenting in the wake of the meeting, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Mao Ming, said this week that China was ready to work with Australia to “further deliver on the important common understandings reached between our two leaders in their meeting in Bali and the outcomes of the China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue”.
“The sound and steady growth of ties between our two countries serves the fundamental interests of both peoples and helps advance peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond,” she said.
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