As a sign of the improving ties between the two countries, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, announced on Friday that he had extended an invitation to visit China’s Premier Li Qiang.
Following his trip to Beijing at the beginning of November, Albanese met with Chinese Head of State Xi Jinping for the second time this month in San Francisco at a meeting for the Pacific Rim.
“The outcome was favorable. “Now that the most recent meetings have been resumed, we spoke (about) Premier Li coming to Australia next year,” Albanese told reporters at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) event in Indonesia. “We spoke (about) Premier Li coming to Australia next year.”
According to Albanese, he also requested that Xi remove any lingering trade restrictions imposed on Australian goods.
China is Australia’s largest commercial partner; nevertheless, relations between the two countries deteriorated in 2020 when Beijing applied significant economic pressure in what was interpreted as a growing Asian power, sending a warning to other Western nations. China is Australia’s largest trading partner.
In keeping with positions taken by the US government at the time, the conservative administration that was in power in Australia at the time had banned the Chinese technology company Huawei from participating in 5G contracts and demanded an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 virus, which was found for the first time in China.
As a form of retaliation, China slapped hefty duties on a wide range of Australian exports, including coal, barley, and wine, among other things.
Since Albanese, a member of the Labour Party, took office in May of the previous year, China has made a U-turn and lifted most of its restrictions.
While Xi was greeting Albanese in Beijing, he made the statement that the two countries could become “trusting partners” on a variety of subjects.
In addition, during APEC, Xi met with other world leaders, including Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States, and Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, with whom he has profound disagreements.
Some commentators believe that President Xi Jinping is making an effort to project a more affable image in order to deflect attention away from the severe economic headwinds that China is facing.