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Daryl Guppy

Chinese media outlets were keen to accentuate the positives of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China. However, sections of the Australian media played up the idea that China was attempting to drive a wedge between Australia and the United States and members of the Australian opposition criticised the visit, calling some of Albanese’s stops “indulgent”.
The visit achieved much in some areas, but otherwise made little progress.
Despite reported efforts by Elbridge Colby, US undersecretary of defence for policy, to seemingly sabotage the visit, Albanese deftly refused to allow questions about Taiwan to divert him from his mission of reaffirming the improvement of Australia-China relations.
But if Albanese was trying to convince Chinese investors that Australia is a reliable place to invest in, he sabotaged himself. This is best summed up by the Australian Financial Review headline “PM stares down China retaliation threat over Darwin Port sale”.
The Albanese government is moving to overturn the China-based company Landbridge Group’s 99-year lease on the port of Darwin just a decade into the lease period. It would be difficult to find a better and more pertinent example of Australia’s limited reliability when it comes to long-term investment from China.
China remains an attractive market for Australian goods, so much of the visit focused on economic opportunities for Australian business relationships with China. Albanese’s efforts were a bare nod to the hard work that has been undertaken in difficult conditions by Australian businesses committed to the Chinese market.
The cap on foreign students, continued lecturing of China in international forums and the lack of pushback against a vicious anti-China campaign by the Australian media have not made it any easier for those doing business in China. The visit luckily didn’t make matters worse, especially since direct discussion of the port of Darwin was avoided in the meetings between the leaders. Still, it is unlikely to significantly improve bilateral trade.

In 2024, at a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Canberra, Albanese admirably asserted that that “dialogue advances cooperation and addressing our differences without allowing them to define what our relationship is … so important.” Before his visit to China, Albanese indicated that he would raise various issues of concern and disagreement.
Canberra has expressed concern over the People’s Liberation Army navy conducting a live-fire exercise in international waters near Australia at short notice. The issue was raised again during Albanese’s visit, despite knowing that China would raise similar issues in response to Australia’s role in freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.
Overall, Albanese’s meetings in China suggest the bilateral relationship is stabilising but that there is little desire for significant policy advances.


Before Albanese’s visit, Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia, suggested that, in the 10th anniversary year of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, it may be time to expand cooperation in growth areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare, green energy and the digital economy. That some of these suggestions were immediately rebuffed by Australian politicians doesn’t offer much hope for improved bilateral ties.
China has reached out to countries affected by the chaos of US President Donald Trump’s trade disruption in the hope of developing a common response to his administration’s global bully behaviour. Ambassador Xiao’s proposal of cooperation on the issue was also rejected. This makes it unlikely that Albanese’s China visit will result in any diplomatic or policy breakthroughs.
The mechanisms of improved trade can be achieved by tinkering around the edges. Chinese Premier Li Qiang complained directly to Albanese that Chinese businesses are being treated unfairly because of foreign investment restrictions. Albanese listened, but later told reporters that his government’s screening of foreign investment was not country-specific. It remains to be seen if anything will change.

Australia’s engagement with the region reflects a stagnant policy. During a recent Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to stand up for global rules and against coercion, while casting Australia as a “reliable partner”.
However, Wong failed to deliver the same message about compliance with global rules in relation to Trump’s disregard for international law in attacking Iran and his refusal to act against the genocide Israel has been accused at the International Court of Justice of committing in Gaza. These omissions, alongside framing China as a regional threat, set the policy parameters for Albanese’s visit to China.
Wong’s comments are a clear statement of Australia’s policy approach to regional trade platforms and indicate Australia’s likely response to China’s ambition to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.


Albanese’s visit to China was not about policy. It seemed to be more about boosting trade opportunities for Australian businesses than creating opportunities for Chinese commerce in Australia.
The apparent commitment to the annual leadership meetings might signal the continued stabilisation of Australia-China ties, but it is unlikely to result in much-needed changes, including more cooperation in areas of global interest such as AI or World Trade Organization reform.
Going into Albanese’s visit to China, there was little hope of any grand achievements so it’s not surprising that there have been no major policy announcements. Its lasting legacy may well be the disconnect between the idea that Australia is a reliable investment partner and the politically driven termination of Chinese investment in the port of Darwin.


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Australia should not sabotage its own efforts to boost ties with China

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gestures as he speaks to the media during a press conference in Chengdu in Sichuan province, China, on July 17. Photo: EPA

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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attends the 15th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, on July 11. Photo: Reuters

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) shakes hands with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 15. Photo: EPA

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a welcoming ceremony with Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon visit a section of the Great Wall near Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

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US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. Neither leader inspires huge amounts of confidence in Australians, a recent Lowy poll found. Photo: AFP/Pool/Getty Images/TNS

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles (left) meets Trump’s Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth (right) at the Pentagon in February. Photo: AP 

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Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who is of Malaysian Chinese ancestry, talks to Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on the sidelines of an Asean meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Photo: Reuters 

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Albanese’s meetings in China suggest the bilateral relationship is stabilising but that there is little desire for significant policy advances


Albanese’s meetings in China suggest the bilateral relationship is stabilising but that there is little desire for significant policy advances.


China-Australia relations

Anthony Albanese

China trade

Trade

Li Qiang

Darwin

Defence

US-ally trade wars

US-China trade war

Switzerland

American Samoa

United States

Landbridge Group

Xiao Qian

Penny Wong

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Australia should not sabotage its own efforts to boost ties with China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Albanese’s meetings in China suggest the bilateral relationship is stabilising but that there is little desire for significant policy advances

Albanese’s meetings in China suggest the bilateral relationship is stabilising but that there is little desire for significant policy advances