Australia comes out of China’s ‘deep freeze’
Australia comes out of China’s ‘deep freeze’
WRITTEN BY MELISSA CONLEY TYLER
5 December 2022
On the sidelines of the recent G20 Summit, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with China’s President Xi Jinping. This might have escaped notice among the dozens of bilateral meetings that surround such events, except for the fact that the last Australia-China leaders’ meeting was in 2016. Since then, Australia has been in a diplomatic ‘deep freeze’ regarding high-level contact with China.
China’s cold shoulder
Why had the relationship between these two nations become so frosty? In some ways, Australia should find it easier than many other countries to get along with China. The two have no historical enmity or territorial disputes. Australia has a large Chinese-Australian diaspora, and — most remarkably — a healthy trade surplus with China.
From a high point in 2014-2015 (when Australia and China agreed to a comprehensive strategic partnership and free trade agreement), there has been a downward spiral in relations. From Australia’s side, there have been concerns about how China’s behaviour has changed, such as its increasing assertiveness in the region. Australia has also felt threatened by ongoing cyber attacks, espionage, and foreign interference in Australian politics and is concerned about continuing human rights abuses.
Australia’s export industries will hope to see progress in the coming months. Because the trade restrictions were not formalised, they are easy and quick to reverse — if there is the political will to do so.
Issues from the Chinese side were encapsulated in a list of 14 grievances against Australia that included blocking foreign investment, banning Huawei from the 5G network, foreign-interference legislation, human rights advocacy around Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and, the final straw, Australia’s call for an inquiry into the COVID-19 virus. Altogether, this led the Chinese government to conclude that Australia was behaving in a hostile manner and that this required consequences. This in turn led to China imposing a freeze on diplomatic contact and a series of import restrictions that affected Australian goods, including lobsters, beef, timber, wheat, copper, sugar, coal, wine, and barley.
Stabilising China-Australia relations
It was a significant moment to see a handshake and warming of relations, not least for Chinese-Australians. While there had been contact between defence and foreign ministers following the election of Australia’s new government — and even a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit — there is nothing as symbolic as a leaders’ meeting. So, what was covered in the 32-minute discussion?
Both leaders were positive about the importance of their mutual relationship. Albanese described it as an “important relationship” and stressed the complementarity of the two economies. Xi, for his part, said the relationship should be “cherished” and that he would like it to improve. In his post-meeting press conference, Albanese made clear that he had used the opportunity to “firmly and politely” present Australia’s position on a number of issues including trade blockages, human rights issues in Xinjiang, maintaining the status quo around Taiwan, and detained Australians. He called on China to exercise its influence over Russia about Ukraine and to work with Australia on a global response to climate change.
Some Australian commentators declared victory, seeing the meeting as a “capitulation” by China to Australia (which had conceded nothing). The Australian government spoke about the change as “stabilising the relationship”, with the government stressing that there has been no substantive change in policy position. China’s economic coercion has been unsuccessful in changing Australian views.
In the recent election campaign, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has been at pains to show that there would be no difference in its position on national security and international relations to the ruling Liberal–National coalition. Conscious of the danger of claims that a vote for the ALP would be a vote for China, the ALP said over and over again that there would be no change of substance in its policy on China, only a change in tone, and that it would continue to stand up for Australia’s national interests. However, according to Defence Minister Richard Marles, “change of tone matters”.
The change of government — and the change in tone — evidently gave China a face-saving way to reset relations. In the meeting Xi told Albanese that he had noticed, “you have made a number of remarks on China-Australia relations on a number of occasions, and have repeatedly said that you will deal with China-Australia relations in a mature manner”, implicitly contrasting this with the previous government’s rhetoric.
Looking ahead
Some might note that China has not yet made any announcements on loosening trade restrictions. However, this should not have been expected from a ‘no-preconditions’ meeting, where neither side needed to make any commitments prior to discussion. Australia’s export industries will hope to see progress in the coming months. Because the trade restrictions were not formalised, they are easy and quick to reverse — if there is the political will to do so. As the Australia-China Relations Institute’s James Laurenceson puts it, “a decisive signal has now been sent throughout the Chinese bureaucracy that there’s official blessing to engage with Australia again”.
This signal will have wider effects — for instance, on Chinese investment in Australia and on Chinese parents thinking about where to send their children to study. These are areas where it is important that Australia is not viewed as a hostile country. A less hostile tone in relations will be appreciated by Australia’s large Chinese-Australian diaspora, a demographic that turned against the last government in the recent election.
Optimists hope that the thawing might even lead to the release of detained Australians like journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun. These are all areas that the Australian government would be expected to pursue. The key result from the meeting is a much warmer atmosphere, as Australia and China mark 50 years of relations. During the meeting, President Xi reminded Prime Minister Albanese that he had personally visited every state of Australia.
Many substantive differences remain. But with an agreement to more dialogue, there are now avenues to discuss these rather than giving each other a cold shoulder. It marks a return to managing differences through diplomacy.
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Melissa Conley Tyler is Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D). Image credit: Flickr/Robert Montgomery.