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Beijing: Time to reset relations with Australia

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says resetting relations with Australia is essential for the region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ahead of the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok. Picture: Adam Taylor
Prime Minister Scott Morrison meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ahead of the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok. Picture: Adam Taylor

Beijing has moved to ease tensions with Australia following a formal bilateral meeting between Scott Morrison and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Sunday night in Bangkok with China claiming the relationship needed a reset in the interests of the region.

In a 45 minute face-to-face at the Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok, the Chinese premier said it was in the region’s interests, and that of the world, that relations between the two countries were put back on track.

A readout of the meeting which appeared on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Premier Li had rejected there was a “feud” between the two countries and remarked that a “healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations was essential to “stability and development of the region and the world”.

“There is no historical feud or fundamental conflict of interest between China and Australia,” the statement said.

It said Australia and China should “push for the return of China-Australia relations to the normal track of long term health and stabliity.”

The statement stood in stark contrast to the blistering attack from Beijing last week following Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne’s move to call out China on its human rights record.

“China and Australia are important economic and trade partners. In the current context of increasing downward pressure on the world economy, the two sides should cooperate in response,” a translation of the official Chinese government statement said.

The Prime Minister reassured Premier Li that he rejected the “binary” view of the China/Australia relationship in the context of Australia’s long standing alliance with the US.

However, Mr Morrison also raised the need to rewrite global trade rules in light of the “gear change” in the global economy. Mr Morrison has been vocal in his call for China’s developing nation status to be revoked in light of its economic might and the unfair advantage it affords China.

The Chinese foreign ministry statement quoted Mr Morrison as saying that China’s development was a “miracle in human history” and that it is admirable that hundreds of millions of people have been successfully lifted out of poverty over the past few decades.

“As a sovereign country, Australia does not have to choose between Australia-China relations and Australia-US relations, and will engage with China independently,” the statement quoted Mr Morrison as saying.

“Australia looks forward to the full resumption of exchange and cooperation with China in various fields as soon as possible.

“China and Australia are important economic and trade partners. In the current context of increasing downward pressure on the world economy, the two sides should cooperate in response,” a translation of the official Chinese government statement said.

“As a sovereign country, Australia does not have to choose between Australia-China relations and Australia-US relations, and will engage with China independently,” the statement quoted Mr Morrison as saying.

“Australia looks forward to the full resumption of exchange and cooperation with China in various fields as soon as possible.”

Ahead of the 45 minute meeting at the Shangri La hotel in bangkok, Premier Li said: “We are ready to work with the Australian side to keep our relationship on the right track, deepen our mutual trust and jointly maintain regional and global peace.

“We are ready to work with Australia to unlock the full potential of our relations and expand our business ties and people-to-people exchange … this is to the benefit of both sides.

“We hope our relations will move in the direction of steady and sound growth.”

Mr Morrison said he too was committed to “improving the relationship” while claiming it was ­already strong.

“This is our opportunity, among others, to talk about the ­relationship, and like you, I feel very strongly committed to ­improving the relationship and ­realising its full potential,’’ he said.

Sunday night’s meeting came as Australia had earlier stepped up calls for an even greater US presence to act as a hard-power deterrent to China’s military and economic reach into the Indo-­Pacific region.

Mr Morrison has been unapologetic about Australia’s calling out of China’s human rights ­record or his recent demands that China be stripped of its developing nation status under the existing world trade rules.

Australia also issued a fresh call for Washington to step up its ­engagement to counter China’s economic and strategic push into the Indo-Pacific after US President Donald Trump snubbed the summit by sending lower ranking officials to a meeting of Asian leaders representing half the world’s population.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese on Sunday called on the Prime Minister to seek a thawing in the relationship at the leaders’ meeting and called on Mr Morrison to visit China. Malcolm Turnbull was the last prime minister to visit China, in 2016.

Executive director of the Lowy Institute Michael Fullilove said Mr Morrison had taken the right approach with Beijing by claiming that the Prime Minister was “waiting them out rather than waiting by the phone”.

Dr Fullilove also described the US decision to send Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Trump’s freshly-minted ­National Security Adviser, Robert O’Brien, as a critical strategic mistake that threatened to undermine a forum that has become a critical platform for Australian strategic influence and economic engagement in the region.

“The White House has magnified the US administration’s error in downgrading its delegation to the summit,” Dr Fullilove said.

“That means the US will not be represented at senior level at all the major Asia summits this year. If Washington believes the Indo-Pacific is the highest priority strategic theatre … you have to be in it to win it. You have to turn up at the highest level.”

The East Asia Summit is hosted by the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, ­Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, but also includes partner countries China, the US, Russia, South Korea, Japan, India and Australia. It is the only regional summit mandated to raise security, political and economic issues.

Mr Morrison will seek to elevate trade as the key issue of the summit with his push for completion of a regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) between ASEAN and the existing free-trade partners of China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

There has been speculation that a ASEAN may seek to move forward with an agreement without India if its demands cannot be met.

It was hoped a deal would be reached at the summit or at least by the end of this year that would create the largest free-trading bloc in the world involving 16 nations and more than 3.5 billion people. It is estimated the GDP of RCEP member countries would represent more than $200 trillion by 2050.

Mr Morrison will again meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, in Bangkok meeting ASEAN counterparts, played down expectations of a major breakthrough on RCEP agreement at the summit but remained confident it would ultimately be landed.

In reference to India and China, the main roadblocks to an agreement Mr Birmingham said: “There are still for some parties, significant negotiations in terms of their own market access ­exchanges — how much they are willing to lower tariffs, open up quotas between one another.”

On Monday Mr Morrison will hold further meetings with leaders of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and India.

Read related topics:China TiesScott Morrison

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pms-formal-talks-a-bid-to-ease-china-tensions/news-story/3c64d2d0a98562807303215b2422bad6