Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell arrives in Beijing Thursday to urge China to ease sweeping import restrictions.
Human rights and national security disputes prompted China to impose trade strikes on a range of Australian exports in 2020. Farrell will ask China to lift those sanctions on billions of dollars of imports from Australia.
Farrell is due to hold talks in Beijing with his counterpart, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
There are signs that the diplomatic and commercial freeze between the two Indo-Pacific nations is beginning to thaw.
Exports of Australian copper, coal and cotton have resumed, and China has agreed to review its restrictions on barley shipments from Australia.
Farrell held virtual talks with Wang in February. It was the first meeting between an Australian trade minister and a Chinese commerce minister in three years.
David Olsson, president of the trade organization the Australia China Business Council, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Thursday he is hopeful that diplomatic friction was coming to an end.
“Measured optimism is a good way to describe it,” Olsson said. “There has been an intensity of diplomatic, political activity over the last few months. So, I think there is broadly a sense of optimism that we will find some political resolution to these very difficult issues.”
Bilateral ties were strained by various geopolitical issues, including Australia’s condemnation of China’s treatment of pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong and its Uyghur Muslim minority.
Relations have improved since the election almost a year ago of a left-leaning government in Canberra.
Analysts say Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia last November was a key breakthrough.
Albanese has said his aim was to stabilize relations with China but cautioned that there would be areas of continued disagreement.
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner. Government data shows that the two-way trade in goods between Australia and China was worth $194 billion in 2022.
Farrell will also co-chair the 16th Joint Ministerial Economic Commission with Wang during his official visit to Beijing.
