Positive start to PM’s China visit

Anthony Albanese’s leaving the door open to supporting China’s ­future membership of the trans-Pacific trade pact carries risk as well as opportunity. The Prime Minister’s failure to push back more forcefully on China’s proposed entry to the CPTPP is likely to spark concerns in Tokyo, which fears, along with the US, that Beijing could use its membership to strengthen its dominance of global commerce. But Mr Albanese is correct when he warns that China would need to demonstrate the highest possible trade standards if it wants to join the 11-nation bloc. The key question is, to what extent would it honour any promises it makes towards that end. In stepping up his country’s push to join the CPTPP, Chinese Premier Li Qiang sharpened his pitch, rejecting protectionism and vowing to “promote international consensus and rules”. After years of coercive trade bans against Australia, among other nations, that would signal a significant change in attitude.

Trade Minister Don Farrell, who accompanied the Prime Minister to Shanghai, told reporters he was buoyed after raising China’s remaining trade bans on $800m-a-year worth of Australian lobster and red meat exports from a handful of abattoirs with his counterpart Chinese Wang Wentao. “I would expect that in a very short space of time, we will find those products back into the Chinese market,” Senator Farrell said.

The likely relaxation of those bans, along with punitive restrictions on Australia wine, barley, coal and other products is good news. China axed its bans on Australian barley after an Australian World Trade Organisation challenge. The punishing trade bans on $20bn worth of Australian exports, should never have been imposed in the first place. For Australia, the most important lesson of the past few years has been the importance of diversifying our export markets.

Seven years after Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to China in 2016, The Australian welcomes Mr Albanese’s visit to China, during which he is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday night. Normalising relations is important to both nations. Keeping lines of communication open will not hurt regional security. But it will only help ease regional tensions, however, if China backs away from its aggression of recent years, especially in regard to the South China Sea.

It is encouraging to learn that Mr Li, China’s No. 2 leader says Beijing would “resolutely oppose unilateralism and protectionism”, and “uphold the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system”. As Mr Albanese said at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Sunday, “rules-based trade’’ is vitally important. The major test will come, however, in relation to Chian’s attitude to strategic policy. The centrality of Australia’s role in the US alliance is non-negotiable.