Beijing blames Canberra for tension in ties

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has blamed Australia for causing the tensions in relations between Canberra and Beijing.

Wang Yi and Julie Bishop in Buenos Aires yesterday. Picture: AFP

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has blamed Australia for causing the tensions in relations between Canberra and Beijing, in a statement issued after a meeting with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

The tone of the statement, issued on Mr Wang’s behalf, contrasted with Ms Bishop’s comments after the meeting that the hour-long conversation was “warm”, “candid” and “lengthy” and resulted in an invitation to Beijing.

Mr Wang emphasised that the meeting was not official and it was Australia’s fault that the relationship had shifted off track. “I’m meeting with the Foreign Minister on a multilateral occasion of the G20 meeting; it is not an official meeting,” his Foreign Ministry statement said.

“Due to the Australian side, China and Australia are encountering difficulties in the relationship, and communications and co-operation have been affected recently.”

Mr Wang said Australia would need to take off “coloured glasses” or discard previous biases in order to improve relations with China.

“What I want to emphasise is: if Australia really hopes the relationship to return to the right track and develop in a healthy way, Australia must get rid of traditional thinking, put down their coloured glasses and see China’s development in a more positive perspective,” he said.

Australia has been one of the most active Western countries to push back against Chinese government interference in other countries’ affairs. The move has angered Beijing, despite its own stringent regulations to counter foreign influence, and caught the attention of politicians in other countries with similar concerns.

The Australian reported in February that tensions between the two countries over the proposed foreign-­interference laws and ­Coalition rhetoric at the time of the Bennelong by-election had spilled into the diplomatic sphere.

While the government has dismissed them as technical issues, there are signs of trade issues between the two countries. Australian wine exporters have been facing extra red tape at Chinese ports and there have been delays with a $500 million deal to open up access for premium Australian chilled beef to China.

After the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers gathering in Argentina, Ms Bishop said Customs delays happened all over the world, and some people were disproportionately magnifying differences and issues in the ­Australia-China relationship.

She said the two leaders had a “formal bilateral meeting” at the end of the G20 meeting which “was very warm, and candid, and a constructive discussion”.

Ms Bishop said they discussed the timing of the visit to Beijing and there were to be more “significant” bilateral meetings soon.

“I was very pleased we were discussing a time for my visit, which will be soon, and Australian officials will also be visiting China very soon,” she told Sky News.

“I’m sure we will be seeing some significant meetings between senior Australian officials and Chinese officials very shortly. (Mr Wang) said he was looking forward to hosting me in Beijing for our annual foreign ministers’ meeting, and this year it will be held in Beijing and I certainly ­accepted his offer to visit and I ­expect to be there very soon.”

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo, who last week was the first senior minister to travel to China this year, talked down trade disputes with China. “Our investment relationship is very strong … from time to time we do see some irritants, and we’ve seen now, for example, requests for additional paperwork from Treasury Wine Estates,” he said. “That was raised with me last week. I’m now working with them to try to resolve that issue.”