The first official meeting between Penny Wong and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi since 2022 comes at a sensitive time in relations between the two countries.
A death sentence imposed on an Australian citizen, trade sanctions, human rights abuses and strategic tensions are set to be discussed. Penny Wong will use a high-profile meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Canberra today to press Beijing over the death sentence imposed on Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, Beijing's remaining trade impediments on Australian goods, human rights abuses and strategic tensions which continue to ripple through the region.
This morning the two foreign ministers will sit down for the first Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue since late 2022, when Senator Wong travelled to Beijing. Wang Yi will be the most powerful Chinese politician to visit Australia since 2017, when then Premier Li Keqiang met with Malcolm Turnbull.Both countries have now fully reopened top level communication channels but remain at odds on a host of strategic, commercial and investment issues.which it imposed when the relationship was at its lowest point in late 2020, but the federal government is still pushing Beijing to unwind lingering trade barriers to Australian rock lobsters and several meatworks.Read moreIn a statement Senator Wong reiterated that Australia wanted a "stable and constructive" relationship with China "in the interests of both countries". "I look forward to a frank exchange of views on our shared interests, points of difference, and our respective roles in upholding a region that is peaceful, stable and secure," Senator Wong said. The talks are expected to run for at least three or four hours and are likely to be frank and robust, with both countries trying to navigate a complex web of disagreements, shared interests and mutual dependencies.Wang Yi is expected to use the meeting to again register China's deep objections to Australia's plan to develop submarines under the AUKUS pact with the US and the United Kingdom.The foreign minister warns that the region needs new diplomatic and legal mechanisms to head off the risk of catastrophic conflict as tensions rise in the South China Sea.He's also likely to press the federal government to relax investment restrictions to allows Chinese companies into sensitive key sectors, including critical minerals. While both countries are playing down expectations of any major breakthroughs from the talks, both Canberra and Beijing have signalled that they're willing to explore new avenues of collaboration in the clean energy space. Some of the most sensitive issues to be discussed will touch on human rights abuses within China and regional flashpoints, including the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Australian officials are worried by China's increasingly strident language on Taiwan, and will likely use the discussions to urge Beijing not to make any rash or aggressive moves across the strait.Meanwhile protesters from the Tibetan and Uyghur community have flagged that they'll mass outside Parliament House on Wednesday morning to protest against the visit, while urging Senator Wong to press Wang Yi on human rights abuses in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. On Tuesday the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association issued a statement stressing that members of the Uyghur minority in China "continue to languish in Chinese concentration camps, prisons and slave labour camps". "China needs Australian goods and Australia must ensure that trade does not come at the cost of compromising our democratic values and national security interests. They must know that we cannot be sold," it said. The Australia Tibet Council also issued a statement declaring that the federal government "cannot overlook that China is an authoritarian state and cannot ignore its continuing human rights atrocities against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Chinese activists". "The relationship must not return to 'business as usual' just because China is ready to trade again," it said. After meeting with Senator Wong in Canberra, the Chinese foreign minister is expected to fly to Sydney where he'll hold further meetings — including a likely sit down with former prime minister Paul Keating, who has been one of the most trenchant critics of the government's policies on China and its plan to build deeper military ties with the US under the AUKUS pact.Australian officials have agreed to facilitate the meeting, and Mr Keating issued a relatively conciliatory statement earlier this week which stressed that he endorsed the government's broad attempts to stabilise ties with China. But China's move to request the meeting has still frustrated Australian officials who have interpreted it as a clear attempt by Beijing to play up schisms on AUKUS and foreign policy within the ALP and broader Australian community."It is quite pointed and somewhat insulting towards Senator Wong for the Chinese Embassy to have sought this meeting, given just how publicly critical Paul Keating has been of Penny Wong and of the Albanese government and their foreign policy," Mr Birmingham said. Wang Yi will also hold a major roundtable meeting in Canberra convened by the Australia China Business Council . The ACBC said the roundtable would bring together "business leaders from Australia's resources, education, health, financial, and legal services sectors, alongside executive directors of think tanks, academia and foundations". ACBC National President David Olsson said the meeting provided an significant opportunity for industry. "The visit provides an important opportunity to hear from one of China's most senior government leaders on how China views its relationship with Australia beyond stabilisation," Mr Olsson said. "It also enables the Australian business community to share their perspectives and insights on the future direction of the relationship."Big swings and long tails: The energy crisis is easing, so why aren't our power bills tumbling?'My daughter is leaving me little by little': Inside Gaza's childhood starvation crisis 'Off the charts' 2023 broke every single climate indicator, with record temperatures, ocean heat and sea level rise Public transport has been 'failing' millions of Australians. It's hoped these new rules could change thatWhat will happen when Facebook stops paying for news? Maybe the music industry knows'Escaping the patriarchy', or discrimination against men? 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