3 days ago
Albanese's China challenge: balancing trade and values
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is back in Australia after a week in China. Did he come home with more than he had when he left? Yes and no.
Albanese can say he met Chinese President Xi Jinping for two hours of talks, had a banquet lunch, magnificent dinners (Paul Kelly and Powderfinger songs!) and basically mended the rift from the Scott Morrison years.
The two leaders were warm in their comments towards each country. Albanese can take this as an embrace, giving rise to a feeling as warm and fuzzy as watching a panda frolic in the sun.
Albanese's week was an act of diplomacy that was necessary to Australia's economic wellbeing. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner.
Trade with China in 2023-24 accounted for 26 per cent of our goods and services trade with the world. Two-way trade with China totalled $325 billion, of which goods and services exports were $212.7 billion. Iron ore exports to China last year alone were worth $US79.6 billion ($121 billion).
The seeming harmony of the past week is a far cry from the years of Morrison's government, when China placed trade bans worth about $20 billion on exports over what it saw as Australia's hostility towards it, partly due to Morrison's view on the origins of COVID-19, though this was never the stated reason. The sanctions have since been lifted.
The thawing of this latest Cold War between Australia and China should be seen as but one front on the bilateral battlefield. While it is true, as French historian Montesquieu wrote 300 years ago, that 'peace is a natural effect of trade', it is not the only factor.
In dealing with China, a set of scales is always on the table. On one side is the money and trade-derived wealth, on the other is the very nature of the regime, that is, its authoritarianism, its geopolitical ambitions, its treatment of its people and minority groups within its borders, including its suppression of human rights and dissent.
