Australia is more relieved than jubilant that the trade war era has been called off. And Beijing is still ramping up pressure in the South China Sea.
told Anthony Albanese on Monday that “the Australia China relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development”, and he’s looking forward to the next 50 years.
While less effusive, the Australian prime minister said his meeting with Mr Xi was historic and that all would benefit from the resumption of regular high-level dialogue.The failure of Beijing’s economic coercion meant a new Labor government last year provided an opportunity for China to call off its illegal trade penalties. But Mr Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong deserve credit for managing the path to re-opening with calm, realistic language and without making any obvious concessions.
It doesn’t halt the underlying tensions in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait, nor worries about China’s wider intentions in the Indo-Pacific. It won’t stop China and Australia being different societies, or governments with very different ambitions. But they can be aired around the table again. That’s important when new problems emerge, as they will. And it provides a lesson against using trade as a political or strategic weapon.
The reality of the new starting point will depend largely on China. The immediate trigger of the trade coercion was former foreign minister Marise Payne’s call for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 in front of diplomatic backing from other nations. But Australia in 2017 also had been first to loudly call out China’s inflicting of “sharp power” coercion on other governments.Now Beijing has called off the wolf warriors.
Beijing seeks to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, although Mr Albanese rightly maintains that the price of entry to this high-quality trade grouping will be more Chinese economic reform. And Beijing is still ramping up pressure in the South China Sea, singling out theThe Australian Financial Review's succinct take on the principles at stake in major domestic and global stories - and what policy makers should do about them.
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