Anthony Albanese has promised to stand up for Australian wine, lobster and beef exporters when he meets with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, as early as next month. The prime minister said in a speech on Monday night that recent progress was “the result of the deliberate, consistent and principled approach we have taken to stabilising the relationship”. While welcoming Beijing’s decision to scrap hefty tariffs on Australian barley, Albanese said he would press for other trade impediments to be removed. Albanese said the resumption of the barley trade between…
Tag: Australian politics
Saudi Arabia stepped in when China would not buy Australian barley, but will that trade survive?
The Australian barley trade is expected to shift back to China from the surging Saudi Arabian market after the resolution of a dispute over tariffs that wiped out nearly $1bn a year in exports. China slapped 80.5% tariffs on the grain in 2020 after a dispute with the Morrison government, forcing Australian growers to find new markets. At its peak, the Chinese market imported almost 70% of Australia’s barley. However, since 2020, much of that grain was redirected to Saudi Arabia in a move welcomed by farm advocates and the…
Pro-democracy advocate says Australia should prepare to lay future sanctions against Hong Kong officials
An Australian citizen who the Hong Kong authorities have vowed to “pursue for life” has risked further ire from Beijing by calling on the Australian government to consider future sanctions against Chinese officials. Kevin Yam, one of eight overseas-based pro-democracy advocates accused of “encouraging sanctions … to destroy Hong Kong”, said the city’s descent into increasingly repressive rule had been “gut-wrenching”. In his most extensive interview since arrest warrants and “bounties” were announced last month, the Melbourne-based lawyer also expressed concern for two other Australian citizens detained in China. Yam…
China agrees to scrap barley tariffs in easing of trade tensions with Australia
China has agreed to scrap its 80% tariffs on Australian barley, in a major win for Canberra’s push to ease trade barriers between the two countries. The tariffs were first imposed in 2020 at the height of tensions, and prompted a lengthy challenge by Australia through the World Trade Organization. In a notice on its website published on Friday, China’s commerce ministry announced that “in view of the changes in the market situation of barley in China” it was “no longer necessary to continue to impose anti-dumping duties and countervailing…
WeChat user numbers plummet nearly 30% in Australia amid concerns of Chinese interference
WeChat has said its user numbers in Australia have declined almost 30% in the past three years, amid questions being raised about foreign interference on the app. Tencent-owned WeChat told a parliamentary committee examining foreign interference on social media that as of July 2023, the communications app favoured by Australia’s Chinese diaspora community had fewer than 500,000 daily active users in Australia. The company told the committee in 2020 that its user base was 690,000. No reason was given for the decline in user numbers in Australia in the past…
Chinese intelligence expected to monitor Australia’s Talisman Sabre military exercises
The Australian defence force expects that Chinese intelligence will seek to monitor Talisman Sabre, a military training exercise involving 30,000 personnel from 13 countries including the US and Pacific neighbours. There is precedent for such monitoring attempts. In 2021, the Australian government said it was keeping an eye on the Chinese auxiliary general intelligence vessel Tianwangxing as it approached Australia’s east coast in the run-up to Talisman Sabre. Germany and Indonesia will be among the countries participating for the first time in Talisman Sabre. The two-week exercise begins on Friday…
Australia news live: Chalmers meets with China on trade sanctions; UK PM hopes Commonwealth Games stay in Australia
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China to ‘fill the gap’ in Solomon Islands budget as PM blasts ‘unneighbourly’ Australia and US
China will “fill the gap” in Solomon Islands’ troubled budget, after Australia and other traditional development partners suddenly withdrew millions of dollars in promised funding, the country’s prime minister has claimed. While the Albanese government immediately denied the claim, Manasseh Sogavare again condemned Australia and the US for criticising his country’s policing pact with China, saying while Australian and other Pacific police forces were its “partner of choice”, China was a welcomed additional security ally. “It takes only nine hours’ flight from China to land forces here,” he said. The…
Australia news live: Philip Lowe reportedly to be replaced as RBA governor; Wong meets top Chinese diplomat
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"64b067568f08df2847003b8c","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe will reportedly be replaced when his seven-year contract concludes in mid-September, according to the ABC. ","elementId":"449618a1-4dac-41f8-89a6-8ee101ef6d71"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" An announcement from treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to follow today’s cabinet meeting, when the topic of Lowe’s replacement will be discussed. ","elementId":"50b6d4b9-5044-401e-970b-55fcaa10010f"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Guardian Australia has not yet been able to confirm this. We will bring you updates as they come. ","elementId":"1b8f1abd-e9b3-4fa3-a690-4bf8f7709bdb"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" In the meantime, here is more on what the future may look like for the Australian economy, the RBA and Lowe, from…
China delays decision on Australian barley tariffs in setback on resolving trade disputes
China has asked for an extra month to decide whether to scrap hefty tariffs on Australian barley, dashing hopes of an imminent breakthrough in one of the biggest trade disputes between the two countries. The Albanese government said it was disappointed by the delay, and warned that it was ready to revive its case at the global trade umpire, the World Trade Organization (WTO), if Beijing doesn’t scrap the measure by August. A failure to reach a deal would also be a setback for Australian wine exporters, because the government…