Australia’s Penny Wong Meets Beijing’s Wang Yi Over Trade, Security and Democracy Issues During ASEAN Meetings

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during a press conference after a joint meeting with her French counterpart at Quai dOrsay in Paris, on Jan. 30, 2023. (Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images)

Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, met with Wang Yi, Director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, on July 13 and raised her concerns over various issues, including trade impediments, consular cases, human rights, and Hong Kong.

During the meeting, which took place on the margins of ASEAN-related meetings in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wong called for faster action on China’s unfair trade sanctions against Australia while raising her deep concerns over Hong Kong’s pursuit of overseas pro-democracy activists, including two currently residing in Australia.

At the ASEAN Foreign Minister’s meeting in Jakarta, Wong also pushed for more trade activities between the two countries.

“My view is we’re seeing some progress on trade; we would like to see more,” she told reporters after the meeting.

While Australia and China enjoy a comprehensive Strategic Partnership, China, on the other hand, singlehandedly slapped trade sanctions on $20 billion worth of Australian products at the height of a diplomatic spat in 2020.

Even though China has since wound back restrictions on timber and coal imports, which China desperately needs for its power generation, steel making, and other industrial needs, other areas such as wine, meat, wool, seafood, dairy products, and other agricultural products are still under trade sanctions.

Diplomatic And Human Rights Issues

On diplomatic and human rights issues, Senator Wong said she had a frank conversation with Mr. Wang on the plight of two Australians still detained in China and recent bounties for foreign-based activists.

Senator Wong said that if both countries could manage their differences wisely, the Australia-China relationship would not be in so much contradiction while keeping each nation’s interests in mind.

“We will speak in defence of human rights, the welfare of our citizens, the rights and freedoms of those who live in Australia, and our strategic, security and trade interests. On these, we will continue to engage and put forward frank and principled views, privately and publicly,” said Wong.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on March 2, 2023. (AAP Image/Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs)

“The Australian people and the Australian government treasure freedom of expression, freedom of political expression, and the government will continue to support those Australian citizens and those in Australia who exercise their right to freedom of political expression,” said Wong.

The ASEAN Regional Security Issues

When addressing ASEAN regional security issues, Senator Wong expressed that Australia looks to a region that is peaceful, stable, and prosperous, where sovereignty is respected and underpinned by the region’s institutions, rules, and norms.

Senator Wong said to address the recent US-China diplomatic engagement: “We welcome recent China-US engagements. We believe it is vital that China and the US arrive at a set of mutual understandings that will underwrite stability, including regular open communications and engagement at all levels.”

Senator Wong stressed at the meeting that the sovereignty of a nation needs to be respected while aggression by any nation is condemned.

In addressing questions related to the recent policing pact signed between China and the Solomon Islands, Senator Wong said security issues in the Pacific region should be addressed by the nations in the region.