Reuters-Australia PM to visit China with progress on wine wind tower disputes
October 22, 2023 3 min 531 words
澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔班尼宣布将于11月4日至7日访问中国，与中国国家主席习近平和国务院总理李强会面，以稳定与澳大利亚最大贸易伙伴之间的关系。这次访问标志着自2016年以来，澳大利亚领导人首次访华。此前，澳中因华为电信公司争端、间谍活动以及COVID-19等问题，关系多年来持续恶化。 报道中提到，澳中已经在关于葡萄酒关税的争端取得了突破，这对曾受到重创的澳大利亚葡萄酒行业来说是一个好消息。根据阿尔班尼的说法，澳中已经就WTO关于葡萄酒的争端达成协议，有望在2021年征收关税前，恢复每年价值8亿美元的葡萄酒进口。 这次访问将讨论经济联系、气候变化以及两国人民之间的联系等多个领域的合作。澳中商务部表示，他们已经就WTO葡萄酒争端以及澳大利亚对中国风力发电塔征税的争端达成了共识。这些举措标志着外交关系的解冻，中国已经解除了对澳大利亚煤炭、木材和大麦进口的限制，这些限制是在澳大利亚要求对COVID-19起源进行调查后针对澳大利亚的。澳大利亚葡萄酒行业受到了长达数年的最有价值的出口市场的冲击，大部分澳洲葡萄酒的关税高达218%。 这次会晤为恢复两国关系带来了积极的信号，同时也有望带来经济合作和贸易的进一步发展。这对于地区和国际稳定都具有积极意义。
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he will travel to China from Nov. 4 to 7 to meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in a bid to stabilise relations with the country's biggest trading partner.
The announcement of the trip to Beijing and Shanghai, the first by an Australian leader to China since 2016, came after a breakthrough on Saturday in a dispute with China over wine tariffs that have battered the industry.
Albanese took office in 2022 intent on patching up relations with China, which had deteriorated over several years due to disputes over telecoms firm Huawei, espionage and COVID.
"It is important that we stabilise our relationship with China," Albanese said.
On the visit, the leaders will discuss cooperation in areas such as economic links, climate change and "links between our people", he said in a statmement.
"I look forward to further engaging with President Xi and Premier Li in Australia's national interest," he said.
Speaking in Canberra, Albanese said Australia late on Saturday had reached a deal with China to move forward to solve its World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over wine, potentially clearing the way for the resumption of imports worth $800 million a year before the duties were imposed in 2021.
"We have agreed on the issue of wine for there to be a review of China's position on wine tariffs to be conducted over the next months," Albanese told reporters.
"We will suspend our action before the WTO, but we're very confident that this will result in once again Australian wine, a great product, being able to go to China free of the tariffs."
China's Commerce Ministry said on Sunday it had reached a consensus with Australia to settle the WTO wine dispute as well as a dispute over Australian duties on Chinese wind towers.
"China and Australia are important trading partners of each other, and we are willing to work with the Australian side to continue to meet each other halfway through dialogue and consultation," China's Commerce ministry said in a statement.
The ministry added that China and Australia held "friendly consultations" on WTO disputes of mutual concern over various items, and was willing to "jointly promote the stable and healthy development of bilateral economic and trade relations."
Albanese's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the wind towers dispute.
In September, Australia distanced itself from a proposal by Beijing for a "packaged solution" that would tie the wine dispute to those about duties on Australian imports of Chinese wind towers, railway wheels and stainless steel sinks.
The announcements are the latest in a diplomatic thaw that has already seen China lift restrictions on imports of Australian coal, timber and barley, which Beijing had targeted after Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.
The duties of up to 218% on most Australian wines were imposed in March 2021, causing trade to collapse in what had been the most valuable export market for the country's winemakers.