Penny Wong rejects trade ’quid pro quo

Wong said that Albanese looks forward to welcoming Premier Li to Australia in the latest sign of the thawing of tensions between the two nations.

“I’m pleased this is on track and we agreed on work to prepare for that meeting,” she said.

Li, who is effectively second-in-command to Chinese President Xi Jinping, is expected to travel to Australia in the middle of the year with June seen as a likely date.

Wong said she raised Australia’s concerns about human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong while expressing “serious concern about unsafe conduct at sea”.

“We do have important differences,” Wong said.

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“Dialogue enables us to manage our differences. It doesn’t eliminate them, but this government, in the interests of Australia, will always seek to manage those differences wisely.”

In his opening statement before his meeting with Wong, Wang said that China-Australia relations had improved significantly since the election of the Labor government in May 2022 and Albanese’s meeting with Xi later that year.

“All in all, our relations are now on the right track, so we shouldn’t hesitate, let it veer off course, and shouldn’t go backwards,” Wang said.

“As relations improved, both sides have been ready to properly resolve some issues with a more positive attitude.

“The latest progress in the wine case has been properly addressed; by the end of this month China will release the final decision.

“Recently, the Australian side also announced that the case concerning Chinese wind towers will also conclude soon.”

Wong said she was hopeful Chinese pandas would continue to remain in Adelaide zoo when the current loan of two pandas from the Chinese government ends in November.

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