Anthony Albanese to rebuff Xi Jinping’s appeal to enter trans-Pacific trade bloc
The PM will push back on China’s bid to join the trans-Pacific free trade bloc during talks in Beijing, as his hosts declare admission is ‘crucial’.
Anthony Albanese will push back on China’s bid to join the trans-Pacific free trade bloc during high-level talks in Beijing next week, as the Prime Minister’s hosts frame the country’s admission to the pact as a crucial step towards upgrading the nations’ economic ties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang are expected to appeal directly to Mr Albanese for Australia to endorse the country’s application to join the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for trans-Pacific Partnership.
But the Prime Minister, following assurances to Japan and the US, will hold the line during his three-day visit to the country, telling his hosts the CPTPP has the highest possible standards for entry and requires unanimous agreement of members to allow new entrants.
Mr Albanese will focus instead on trying to reinvigorate the bilateral China-Australia free trade agreement, resolve lingering Chinese trade bans on Australian products, and focus on how to avoid future disputes.
The long-awaited trip is being billed by Australia as the result of “patient, calibrated, deliberate” diplomacy, amid warnings there will be no “back to the future” return to the heyday of relations between the nations.
The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will meet Mr Xi on Monday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People, and on Thursday will meet Mr Li at the same venue, followed by a working lunch with the number two leader.
China will turn on all of its ceremonial pomp for the official visit – the first by an Australian prime minister in seven years – playing heavily on the symbolism of the trip, which coincides roughly with the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s 1973 visit to the country. It comes as China ramps up its campaign to join the CPTPP to bolster its growing domination over global commerce, despite the country’s poor record of complying with World Trade Organisation rules.
Writing in The Australian, China’s consul-general in Brisbane, Ruan Zongze, says his country’s CPTPP membership application is “crucial to China’s institutional opening-up and the upgrading of China-Australia economic co-operation”.
“China is committed to high-level opening-up and high-quality development, and stands ready to work with Australia to build an open global economy,” the consul-general writes.
He declares Mr Albanese’s visit will mark “the new starting point of another 50 years of relations”.
Mr Albanese has vowed to raise all of the difficult issues between the countries spanning consular cases, trade, the South China Sea, and threats against Taiwan – and will emphasise that stable Australia-China relations are key to wider regional stability.
He has also committed to work with China “where we can”, opening the way for potential collaboration on green-energy projects.
The visit comes barely a week after Mr Albanese’s return from the US, where President Joe Biden warned him against placing complete trust in China, and less than a fortnight before Mr Biden is due to meet Mr Xi at the APEC summit in San Francisco. The US hopes the Biden-Xi talks will ease tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Australia has so far been in lock-step with Japan on the need to keep China out of the CPTPP due to its record of economic coercion and unfair trade practices, and fears it would use the bloc to extend its economic dominance at the expense of the US.
The US is not a CPTPP member but wants to avoid China’s admission.
Trade will be front and centre on Sunday – the first working day of the trip – after China’s drawn-out removal of most of the $20bn in trade bans it imposed on Australian exporters.
Mr Albanese will be one of a number of world leaders to attend the opening of the China International Import Expo trade show in Shanghai that morning.
Mr Xi is expected to give a speech to open the expo, which has become China’s most politically important trade event since the President launched it in 2018.
More than 200 Australian companies will be represented at the event, including Rio Tinto, BHP and Treasury Wines.
There are high hopes the visit will accelerate the reopening of China to more than $1bn of Australian wine exports, amid a Chinese commitment to review its crippling tariffs on the product.
Australian lobster exporters and a few red-meat abattoirs are likewise optimistic that the Prime Minister’s trip will result in the swift removal of the only other remaining bans
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