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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is still hopeful of lifting Chinese trade sanctions on Australian goods, despite Beijing criticizing his announcement to acquire nuclear submarines.
Deputy Trade Minister Tim Ayres will travel to China on Tuesday to speak on clean energy and trade.
It paves the way for Commerce Minister Don Farrell to visit China after accepting an invitation from his Chinese counterpart.
Albanese said it was important to keep the channels of dialogue open.
“There have been some changes to impediments that were already in place in our trade, so there is progress,” he said.
“It is good that governments are talking. Dialogue is always a positive thing in our region and around the world.”
Senator Ayres will travel to China for this year’s Bo’ao Forum for Asia dialogue, leading a business delegation that includes mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and Treasury Wine Estates CEO Tim Ford.
He says that while there won’t be any big breakthroughs in the next few days, it was an important opportunity to broaden that dialogue.
He said the talks at both the ministerial level and between companies were good for investment across the region.
“(I) will set out Australia’s approach to becoming a renewable energy superpower and our focus on emissions, which offers a huge opportunity for business, development and investment in the Australian economy,” he told AAP.
Senator Farrell held a virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart last month and Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited Beijing in December.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will also make a separate trip to China this week.
China maintains trade sanctions worth $20 billion on exports.
China has strongly opposed Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines through the AUKUS alliance with the US and the UK.
Senator Ayres said the announcement was unlikely to affect the discussions.
“AUKUS arrangements have been absolutely clear for 18 months,” he said.
“I don’t think the announcement a few weeks ago…would have been a surprise to anyone.”
-AAP
