What a surprise!
A week before Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agreed to a review of its tariffs on Australian wine. It has also indicated that it will review the restrictions on wind towers under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework.
Australia has already agreed to suspend its WTO dispute about wine while the Chinese review proceeds.
In 2021, China imposed tariffs on Australian wine in response to criticism of its lack of transparency about the origins and spread of COVID-19.
It also imposed tariffs on other items, including Australian barley; but not on resources it relied on, such as iron ore.
While the Albanese Labor government welcomed the recent announcements, the restrictions should never have been imposed.
The announcement about easing trade restrictions came with an ominous warning from Beijing.
Quoting unnamed “experts,” the mouthpiece of the CCP, the Global Times, reported that “the potential visit is in no doubt a promising step for the two countries to rebuild trust especially as the Australian prime minister needs to resist pressure from anti-China forces at home and from the U.S.”
However, they cautioned that “the current recovery in relations might be “fragile” as its sustainability and strength depended on further efforts of Canberra to balance its political approach.
“The present Australian government needs to have sufficient political wisdom to avoid repeating reckless and irrational anti-China moves of the previous administration, which ruined bilateral ties and political trust,” Zhang Hong, a commentator on bilateral relations said.
Another Chinese academic, Yu Lei said that “the trend of Canberra ‘politicising’ and ‘securitising’ economic and trade issues between the two countries persists, posing a threat to maintaining stable relations that could lead to setbacks in bilateral cooperation.”
This message will be stated forcefully by Chinese officials in meetings with the Australian leader, especially following his visit to the United States.
The CCP has been vocal in its condemnation of the AUKUS agreement and Australia’s defence and security ties with the United States.
Why Are We Still Going the Appeasement Route
The announcement came just days after the Australian government quietly slipped out a media release on a Friday evening stating that it would not cancel the 99-year Port of Darwin lease to a Chinese firm. The report had been given to the ministers some four months earlier!Mr. Albanese had criticised the lease when he was the opposition leader, but neither he nor any minister made the announcement, hiding behind a media release from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Given Mr. Albanese’s previous criticism of the lease, he will be seen by many as appeasing the CCP.
Beijing is now pushing to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and will be urging Mr. Albanese to accede, despite its breaches of WTO agreements since its admission, including the current disputes with Australia.
The lease of the Port is known to be sensitive to the United States. Its forces have a significant presence in the Northern Territory, which is on the front line of Australia’s defences and a key component of the allied security arrangements.
Australia isn’t capable of defending itself without significant allied support.
Why the Australian Defence Department has downplayed the threat of CCP involvement remains unexplained.
Further, the release of the journalist Cheng Lei, also in the lead-up to the prime minister’s China visit, suggests that China is continuing to treat Australia on a transactional basis, looking always to advance its global agenda.
Mr. Albanese has been keen to journey to Beijing as a celebration of former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s visit 50 years ago.
The visit plays to the Labor caucus—and his narrative about the Coalition’s alleged “mishandling” of relations with China.
Whether the concessions he has given the CCP are worth the potential costs to Australia’s defence and security remains questionable.
