Australia aims to continue to boost relations with China as it seeks to fully restore trade ties with its largest export market.
“China is our major trading partner, and we’ve worked to change the relationship,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters yesterday in Townsville, Australia. “We believe that it is in both our countries’ interests to continue to develop more positive relations.”
New coal import deals have been struck this month after China’s authorities signaled an easing of an informal ban on Australian cargoes, imposed in 2020 as relations soured over issues including the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other measures continue to hamper trade in everything from lobsters to wine and timber.
“It is in Australia’s interest to be able to export without any impediments to China,” Albanese said. “It’s also in China’s interests to receive those exports from Australia.”
Since the election of Albanese’s Labor government in May, ties have stabilized, with top officials from both sides meeting for the first time in years.
Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in November at the G20 summit in Bali, while Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) traveled to Beijing last month.
Addressing other matters, Albanese said that Australia plans to invest A$70 million (US$48.86 million) in the development of a green hydrogen hub in Queensland state as the nation aims to export the fuel.
The funding joins more than A$450 million already allocated to spur construction of clean-energy equipment manufacturing, solar and wind farms, and export infrastructure in traditional mining and coal areas including the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Developers including billionaire Andrew Forrest are attempting to use clean electricity to extract hydrogen from water and ship the fuel overseas. Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries aims to start producing 15 million tonnes a year by 2030.
“This isn’t a niche industry,” Albanese said. “This is something that will make an enormous difference to Australia’s economy.”
Creating a hydrogen industry could generate A$50 billion in GDP for Australia and create more than 16,000 jobs, Albanese’s office said in a statement.
Global shipments of electrolyzers — equipment used to make hydrogen from water — are likely to double this year, BloombergNEF said.
Australia faces major competition in establishing itself as a global hydrogen powerhouse from nations including the US and India.
US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act showers money on domestic hydrogen production and projects from New York to Hawaii are vying for US$7 billion in federal funding.
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