Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit Beijing on Tuesday to meet with her Chinese counterpart, the latest breakthrough in the Albanese government’s bid to stabilise relations with Australia’s largest trading partner.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host Wong for a meeting on Wednesday in the Chinese capital, the first time an Australian foreign minister has been invited to visit China since then-foreign minister Marise Payne went to Beijing in November 2018.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen/Bloomberg
Wong’s meeting is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing, a date Beijing has long viewed as a prime opportunity to steady the rocky bilateral relationship.
It follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s November meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, the first bilateral meeting Xi had held with an Australian prime minister in six years.
“This week marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China,” Wong wrote in a joint statement with Albanese.
“In 1972, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam took a bold decision, recognising the importance of engagement and cooperation between our two nations and peoples.
“In the decades since, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies and Australia’s largest trading partner.
“Trade between Australia and China, as well as strong people-to-people, cultural and business links have delivered significant benefits to both our countries.
“Building on the recent constructive meeting between Prime Minister Albanese and President Xi in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, tomorrow Foreign Minister Penny Wong will travel to Beijing at the invitation of the People’s Republic of China to meet China’s State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, and hold the 6th Australia–China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue. This Dialogue was last held in 2018.”
Gough Whitlam on the Great Wall of China in 1971, as leader of the opposition a year before his government formally recognised and established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, through the signing of a joint communiqué by the Australian and PRC ambassadors in Paris.
The Beijing encounter will be Wong’s third meeting with Wang since Labor took office in May, following previous meetings in Bali and New York.
High-level interactions between Beijing and Canberra completely dried up during the final years of the previous Coalition government, with Chinese officials refusing to meet or even accept telephone calls from their Australian counterparts.
Beijing was infuriated by Australian moves to limit foreign interference, ban Huawei from the nation’s 5G rollout and publicly call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
In her meeting, Wong will make the case for China to begin lifting sanctions on Australian exports worth $20 billion and raise the plight of journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun, two Australians detained in China.
Wong in her statement said: “Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest.”
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported at the weekend that Cheng and Yang’s family and friends believe the detainees are in better health and more optimistic about their prospects than at any time since they were first arrested following the recent thaw in Australia-China tensions.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government “will continue to advocate at the highest levels for Australians detained in China”.
“Australia expects Chinese authorities to provide regular access to both Australian citizens in line with our bilateral consular agreement,” the spokesperson said. “We have repeatedly conveyed our concern to Chinese authorities about delayed consular visits.”
In a speech last month for the upcoming anniversary of China-Australia diplomatic relations, Wong said: “We believe the removal of impediments to Australian exports and the full resumption of our bilateral trade would greatly benefit both Australia and China.”
She added: “It is in the interests of Australia, China and our region for the relationship to continue to be stabilised. We aim for a relationship of mutual respect and mutual benefit. We are ready to cooperate where we can and we are prepared to disagree where we must.”
More to come.
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