Australian Prime Minister calls on Beijing to stop economic coercion before bilateral relations resume

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Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged Beijing to lift mandatory trade restrictions before considering resetting bilateral relations.

“China has imposed sanctions on Australia,” Albanese said. I told reporters June 13, “These sanctions need to be lifted to improve relations between Australia and China.”

The Prime Minister’s comment comes after Beijing’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Australia cannot expect to improve bilateral relations simply by manipulating “autopilot.”

“Resetting requires concrete action,” Wang said.

After former Foreign Minister Marie’s Payne sought an investigation into the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, due to economic coercion in Beijing, Australia’s eight major exports (beef, fish and shellfish, wine, honey and lamb) , Wheat, coal, wood) has been wiped out.

The Chinese Communist Party has also submitted a list containing 14 “dissatisfactions” that Australia needs to address before diplomatic relations normalize.

They included demanding that the government stop making negative reports about China. Stop building alliances with Indo-Pacific partners. Withdraw Huawei’s ban from Australia’s 5G network. Remove foreign interferometry.

Epoch Times Photo
Australian wine (2nd R) is on display among other wines at the Beijing shop on December 23, 2020. Australian wines have been subject to strict tariffs from Beijing since 2020. (Via Noel Celis / AFP) Getty Images)

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, as well as Defense Minister, was recently able to meet with his Chinese defense officer. Shangri-La Dialog,

“It’s always been good for people to talk and discuss, which has been lacking in the last few years, but we need to take concrete steps in the future,” says Albanese.

“It was China that changed the nature of the relationship.

Epoch Times Photo
China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe will attend the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore on June 12, 2022. (Roslan Rahman / AFP via Getty Images)

“But China needs to abolish the sanctions they have enforced. There is no reason they are there. We are a trading country. We are all obliged as part of the contracts and arrangements signed. And we also produce good products. And those sanctions hurt Australia, but they also hurt China. “

The prime minister also said the federal government “continues to support Australian values.”

“They are the value of human rights, but also the value of interaction through the economy in a globalized world. And Australia wants to trade with China. It wants to trade in a way that benefits both countries.” Stated.

The freeze on diplomatic relations with Australia was broken in a dialogue when Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe hosted Australia’s Mars for a supper.

Mars welcomed the meeting and said there was a “very candid and complete” exchange.

“It’s been three years since the defense ministers of both countries met. This is an important meeting and the Australian Government welcomes it,” he said.

Epoch Times Photo
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is drawing attention at a ceremony to offer a wreath at Indonesia’s National Hero Cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 6, 2022. (EdWray / Getty Images)
Victoria Kelly Clark

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Victoria Kelly-Clark is an Australian-based reporter focusing on the national political and geopolitical environment of the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Central Asia.

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