‘Important': Senior Labor minister defends PM's China trip, says ties collapsed under Coalition

News.com.au

20-07-2025

A senior Labor minister has hit back at the opposition for criticising Anthony Albanese's lengthy state visit to China, saying the relationship with Australia's biggest trading partner had 'broken down' on the Coalition's watch.
The Prime Minister spent much of the last week touting Australia's tourism, trade and research offerings in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu as part of a five-day business and diplomatic blitz.
But the Opposition has argued the trip did not produce any tangible outcomes, despite several agreements being signed.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said on Sunday she found the 'criticism quite extraordinary considering that since we came to government we have removed some $20 billion of trade impediments with China'.
China imposed trade restrictions during a trade war with the Morrison-Coalition government.
'We now have in everything from wine to lobster, not to mention the fact that China is our single biggest trading partner,' Ms Rowland told Sky News.
'Our resources sector relies on that relationship.'
She noted that Mr Albanese's visit was 'at the invitation … of China'.
'He went with a significant business delegation,' Ms Rowland.
'This is about creating jobs and extra trade opportunities for Australia, and it's important that we maintain this vital relationship.'
The business community, represented by the Business Council of Australia (BCA), has praised the trip.
The BCA was central to many of Mr Albanese's engagements in China, including high-level talks with Chinese officials and business leaders.
With Mr Albanese meeting with Xi Jinping while a face-to-face with Donald Trump elusive, Ms Rowland was asked how she thought the China trip would go down in Washington.
'Our relationship with China is obviously important, as is our relationship with the United States,' she said.
'But here, there are different purposes.
'We will engage in the national interest wherever we can with China.
'We will always act in the national interest, and often we will disagree.
'But this is important from the perspective of our trade and of stabilising that relationship, which, quite frankly, had broken down under successive Liberal governments.
'And it's important that we have a government now that's acting in our national interest, in the interest of jobs and trade and certainty.'
Ms Rowland, who sits on the National Security Committee, also downplayed concerns around the Trump administration's demand to hike Australian defence spending and its commitment to AUKUS – a $360bn submarine pact with the US and UK underpinning Canberra's defence strategy for the first half of the 21st century.
While Mr Albanese was in China, the man leading the US review of AUKUS hinted Australia would need to guarantee support for the US if a conflict broke out in the Indo-Pacific over Taiwan.
It came after the Financial Times reported Mr Colby asked Australia and Japan what they would do to defend the democratically self-governed island from China.
Ms Rowland said she was 'not going to engage in hypotheticals' but that the Albanese government did 'not support a unilateral change' on Taiwan.
'What I will note, in going to a related issue about defence spending, that we recognise the US has called for this of a number of its allies,' she said.
'But again, I would point out that we are spending some $10bn over the forwards and nearly $60bn over the next decade on defence spending.
'We will act always in the national interest, and we will ensure that our capabilities are up to scratch.'
She refused to comment on National Security deliberations on the US' AUKUS review, but said that 'there is nothing unusual about a new administration having a review of these relationships'.
'But again, we view AUKUS as fundamental to our relationship with the United States, and we are confident in its execution,' Ms Rowland said.