Australia and China will attempt to reinvigorate stalled free-trade talks later this week, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said yesterday as the two countries put aside recent diplomatic tensions.
“I will be meeting with my Chinese counterpart Chen Deming (陳德銘) later this week. Interestingly we have Chinese officials in Australia also this week,” Crean said when asked about the resumption of free-trade negotiations.
Crean and Chen will be attending meetings of the APEC forum in Singapore this week.
China and Australia announced plans for a free-trade deal in April 2005, but there have been no negotiations since the 13th round of talks in Beijing last December.
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner. Two-way trade was worth A$76 billion (US$70 billion) in the year to June 30, with China buying more than A$25 billion of Australian iron ore and coal.
Relations plummeted in June over a failed bid by China’s state-owned Chinalco (中國鋁業) to buy a US$19.5 billion stake in mining company Rio Tinto, and China’s arrest of Australian Rio executive Stern Hu (胡士泰) on corporate espionage charges.
New trade meetings would follow a visit to Australia by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) late last month, aimed at easing tensions.
Crean said the trade talks stalled over China’s concerns over agriculture and worries Australian agricultural imports could undermine China’s domestic prices. The two countries also have unresolved differences over intellectual property rules.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto said yesterday it was interested in collaborating with Chinalco, months after rejecting a massive cash injection from the state-owned Chinese firm.
Rio chief executive Tom Albanese also said the company hoped for a “timely and transparent resolution” of the case against Hu, who was arrested in China after the US$19.5 billion tie-up collapsed.
“We are still keen to work with Chinalco in future on projects of mutual benefit,” Albanese told a conference in Perth. “It is too early to say what these might be, but I am encouraged that we have had some recent engagement.”
“We want the underlying common interests between Rio Tinto and China to once again drive us towards ever-deepening cooperation,” Albanese added.
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