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Albanese announced in October he had struck an agreement with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to reopen exports of Australian live lobsters, lifting the final block in China’s trade embargo on an array of Australian exports.
Xiao urged the nations to take their economic relationship to the next level through trade on advanced technologies such as green energy, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles – an ambition that may prove complicated because of Australian national security concerns.
He also appealed for Australia to be “more friendly” towards Chinese citizens wanting to study in Australia, saying that hopeful students had written to him in frustration about waiting for eight months to learn if they would be granted a visa by Australian authorities.
Asked about the impact of Trump’s election victory on the Australia-China relationship, Xiao said there was “no reason for us to compromise our respective national interests for the sake of a third party”.
“I think the first and most for us to do perhaps is to continue the good relation on momentum between our two countries and see what we can do together to promote global trade instead of compromising our respective national interest and our common interest,” Xiao said.
Xiao lamented that Australia no longer conducted joint military exercises, as they did as recently as 2019.
Australians should not regard China as a military threat, he said, while insisting that “China is becoming stronger” and would be a major strategic player in the Indo-Pacific region.