Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to bat away questions about Taiwan as soon as he got to China. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Anthony Albanese has used the first stop of his visit to China to boost tourism ties with Australia, while also being forced to defend Australia’s position on Taiwan.
The Prime Minister witnessed the signing in Shanghai of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tourism Australia and the giant Trip.com Group to promote Australia as a premier tourist destination for Chinese travellers.
Trip.com is one of the world’s largest travel agencies, commanding more than 40 per cent of the Chinese travel market.
It also has a large presence in other parts of Asia and is accessed by more than 300 million travellers worldwide.
China is Australia’s largest tourism market by expenditure, with a total spend of $9.2 billion in the 12 months to March this year.
Mr Albanese said the MoU created a new partnership that would provide a significant boost for Australia’s tourism industry.
“Not only is Australia’s beef, barley, red wine and rock lobster the best in the world – we’re the best place in the world to come for a holiday,” he said.
“Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost for Australian businesses.”
Earlier, however, the PM had to field questions over United States pressure to explain what Australia’s role would be in a possible conflict between China and the US over Taiwan.
Senior US defence official Elbridge Colby, who is Donald Trump’s security adviser, was reported in the Financial Times on Saturday (12 July) saying the Trump administration wants Australia and Tokyo to declare their positions and how they would contribute to such a war.
The timing of the report and subsequent social media posts from Mr Colby couldn’t have been worse for Mr Albanese, who was confronted with the news on his first full day in China.
But the Prime Minister wasn’t taking the bait, suggesting he wasn’t letting the US dictate Australia’s position on Taiwan.
“I think it’s important that we have a consistent position, which Australia has had for a long period of time,” he said.
“We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don’t support any unilateral action there.
“We have a clear position, and we have been consistent about that.
“What’s important when it comes to international relationships is that you have a stable, orderly, coherent position going forward. Australia does.
“We want peace and security in our region. We don’t want any change to the status quo.
“That’s Australia’s position today. That was Australia’s position last week. That’s been a bipartisan position for a long period of time.”
The Australian Government does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state, but strongly supports the development, on an unofficial basis, of economic and cultural relations with it.
Australia also supports Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations and conferences.
The PM will meet on Monday (14 July) with representatives of China’s steel industry, along with bosses of Australian resource companies Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue, in a roundtable discussion on “green steel”.
Mr Albanese said he was using his six-day visit to China, which takes in three cities and will include a meeting in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, to advance Australia’s security and economic interests.
Trade, tourism and Australian jobs are a critical part of the official visit to China, he said.
“That means driving greater and more diverse tourism cooperation between Australia and China – and building on our strong people to people links,” the Prime Minister said.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
The pair had a discussion about ASEAN priorities, the Prime Minister’s visit to China, as well as bilateral interests.
Senator Wong raised Australia’s concerns on a range of issues, including human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, and respect for Australia’s laws, sovereignty and freedom of expression.
She also advocated for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
In her address to the ASEAN Summit, Senator Wong warned of the threat China’s military build-up is to Australia.
“China continues to assert its strategic influence and project its military power further into our region,” she said.
Nationals leader David Littleproud was asked about the PM’s China trip during a weekend media appearance and said it was “a good thing” but suggested Senator Wong might have made the task a little uncomfortable.
“When you’ve got his Foreign Minister raising the alarm bell about the strategic threat that China poses to Australia, then you have to take that seriously,” Mr Littleproud said.
“And you have to be able to be prepared to have those conversations when you meet with President Xi to make sure they understand that peace and stability in the region is important to us.”
