The Guardian - China-Albanese in China five things we learned from his talks with Xi Jinping
November 6, 2023 3 min 460 words
澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔班尼斯于北京与中国国家主席习近平首次会晤。这篇报道提到五个关键点，但没有具体的成果。首先，阿尔班尼斯提到了被中国扣押的澳大利亚作家兼民主活动家杨恒均，但习近平的回应并不明确。第二，中国表达了加入扩大的跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（CPTPP）的愿望，尽管澳大利亚此前表示中国没有加入的可能性，但现在情况似乎变得模糊。第三，西方国家呼吁中国行使影响力，说服俄罗斯结束乌克兰战争，但阿尔班尼斯并未明确提到中国是否支持俄罗斯。第四，中澳之间的贸易纠纷中，中国解除了一些对澳大利亚的制裁，但对澳洲龙虾出口仍有限制，而对葡萄酒征收的关税也没有完全取消。习近平在会谈中提到澳洲龙虾，引发了对突破的希望。最后，阿尔班尼斯提出要求恢复年度领导人对话，这一举措看来将会实现。 这次会谈涉及到重大议题，但尚未产生具体成果。中国和澳大利亚之间的关系一直备受关注，特别是在贸易和人权问题上。随着国际形势的变化，双方之间的互动变得更加复杂。需要继续密切关注这一关系的发展，以了解双方在重要问题上的立场和未来的走向。
Anthony Albanese met China’s president Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday night. Here are five things that came up when the two leaders spoke for the first time on Chinese soil.
Yang Hengjun
The prime minister raised the plight of the Australian writer and democracy activist Yang Hengjun. Yang has been detained by China for almost five years. During the diplomatic thaw which played out in the run up to Monday’s meeting, China released the Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been detained by Chinese authorities for three years. But Yang remains in detention in the People’s Republic. Albanese told reporters he raised Yang’s detention with the president. He declined to expand on how Xi responded.
The CPTPP trade pact
China has ambitions to join an important regional trade pact, the expanded Trans Pacific Partnership. Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, said last year Beijing had “no prospect” of joining that trade pact. But things have become more opaque since that point. Xi raised the issue in the discussion with Albanese on Monday, but he didn’t ask explicitly for Australia’s support. Albanese points out that China’s ambition to join the pact requires the unanimous support of all its signatories. That’s unlikely because several countries don’t want China included in that deal. But it’s unclear whether Australia might migrate from “no prospect” to supporting China’s bid.
Did Russia come up?
A bunch of western countries, including Australia, have appealed to China to use its influence to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Albanese was asked whether he expressed any concern about China’s support of Russia. With Russia’s president Vladimir Putin visiting Beijing last month, Albanese answered very carefully. He said “the conflict in the world was raised”. He said the two leaders spoke about Ukraine and about the war in the Middle East. Albanese says he stressed the need for peace and security “in our region”.
Lobsters and wine
China removed some of the punitive trade sanctions in the run up to Monday night’s meeting in Beijing, but restrictions remain on lobster exports from Australia, and China hasn’t fully backed off tariffs slapped on wine at the height of the trade war. Xi flagged lobsters during the meeting – raising hopes of a breakthrough – and Australian officials seem very confident Australian wine will be heading back to the Chinese market reasonably soon.
Leaders dialogue – back on the agenda
Albanese flagged he will be asking China’s premier for a resumption of the annual leaders dialogue that was canned several years ago. The resumption of those conversations looks like a certainty. Albanese also invited president Xi to visit Australia in the near future. Xi also invited Albanese to return to China and visit other parts of the country.