On March 7, Australian Prime Minister Albanese said that relations between China and Australia had begun to warm. While Albanese acknowledged the differences in political systems and values between the two countries, the Australian side downplayed this and stressed that it hoped to seek a cooperative approach to get relations back on track, and he also stressed the consensus that both China and Australia want a peaceful and stable Asia-Pacific region. Recently, 15 cargo ships loaded with Australian coal will be bound for China, Australian agricultural products will resume exports to China, and business representatives will soon visit China, and from the perspective of industry, agriculture, and commerce, Albanese is true.
(Australian Prime Minister Albanese took office and sought to improve relations with China)
Start by working together to restore relationships
Until 2020, China was Australia's largest coal exporter, and even in 2020, coal exports to China alone accounted for 21% of the country's exports. However, in recent years, Australia's wrong behavior towards China has led to China-Australia relations once reached a freezing point, and trade between China and Australia has also been suspended, objectively speaking, this is a big loss for both sides, but China is not only Australia, a coal supplier, in 2022 China will increase coal imports from Russia, more than twice the amount of the previous year, and the price is only 50% of Australia. Since the Albanese government came to power in May last year, its China policy has gradually improved, and even China and Australia have met in Bali to point out the way to further improve relations between the two countries.
(Australian Prime Minister Albanese)
Australian Agriculture Minister Watt also said that there are various signs that China-Australia relations are warming up, and Australia's agricultural products will resume exports to China, including lobster, beef and dairy products. Watt said and mentioned that one of Australia's major coal ports had already seen cargo ships destined for China this month, and it seemed that the next step was to sail to China. It has been revealed that at least 15 large ships carrying Australian coal have been bound for China since February, which may mean that Australia will resume coal exports to China. A number of group leaders in the business community are also preparing to visit China in March, including Fortesk Metal, BHP Billiton, and Fuyi Wine Group.
(Australia's coal exports)
The new government came to power to change the wind
China is not deliberately targeting Australian product imports, which is estimated to be clear to the Australian side, since 2017, Australia has experienced two government changes, and the previous Turnbull government and Morrison government have made many moves that hurt the relationship between the two countries, under the leadership of the United States, deliberately hyped the "China threat theory", said that there was a problem of "national security" in foreign economic cooperation and trade, and undermined normal trade exchanges between the two countries, and made erroneous remarks that violated China's principles on Hong Kong-related and Xinjiang-related issues. Even after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, respond to the call of the United States to smear China. This did not improve until the recent Labor government led by Albanese began to govern, and the current Australian government seems to have changed its course and avoided issues at odds with China. On March 2 this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Australian Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian at the G20 meeting, and the two sides reached a consensus on the need to jointly improve bilateral relations. And China-Australia diplomatic relations seem to have developed in a good direction.
(Australian grade M beef)
Australia is self-defeating
As Australia's trading partner for many years, although the relationship between the two sides has not been good enough in recent years, China still accounts for 40% of Australia's exports, and due to the sharp cooling of relations between the two sides in the previous two years, many Australian businesses such as retail brands, shops, restaurants, hotels and tourism industries have been forced to close or close, with nearly 1 million unemployed at the peak. There is also a reason why Australia is anxious to cooperate with China, but the current situation is not what the two sides want to see, and the responsibility for such a situation lies entirely with Australia.
Now Albanese only tells us about the consensus on peaceful and stable development, and downplaying differences is a signal to seek to ease relations with China. But we need to watch its words and deeds, and Australia may have to go through the test of time if it is to truly restore its previous relationship with China.
(Australian people demonstrate)
The reason is that the change in Australia's attitude towards China still lies in itself, China is an inseparable partner of the Australian side, but the Australian side is not benevolent first, is willing to be a vassal of the United States, and should make a more independent judgment on the major issues of right and wrong. Albanese's government has made a good start by seeking cooperation with China, maintaining some strategic rationality, and avoiding Morrison's path if it wants to restore relations with China to before 2017.
Editor: Liu Mingyue
Review: War Knife