Australia vowed Saturday to stand up for itself
in dealing with China, after reporting no breakthroughs in high-level talks
where it pressed Beijing to drop punitive trade sanctions.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described a meeting between the two
countries’ foreign ministers the previous day — the first since 2019 — as
“just a first step”.

“We should cooperate where we can. But we will stand up for Australian values
where we must,” the prime minister said at a news conference.
China — Australia’s biggest trading partner — imposed tariffs and disrupted
more than a dozen key industries, including wine, barley and coal, as
relations deteriorated over the past two years.

Canberra had irked Beijing by calling for an independent probe into the
origins of the coronavirus pandemic and by banning telecom giant Huawei from
taking part in the construction of Australia’s 5G network.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she raised the trade spat on
Friday when she met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of
a Group of 20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

It “remains the government’s position those trade blockages should be
removed,” the minister said in Bali.

China had responded during the talks by stating its “well-known” position and
perspective on the dispute, she said.

Wong said she had also raised the cases of journalist Cheng Lei and democracy
activist Yang Hengjun, Australian citizens detained in China.
“I think all of these issues will take some time,” she said. “There is a path
we are walking. And we will take one step at a time in the interest of the
country.”

Wong said Australia and China had gained much through their economic and
people-to-people ties.

“We do have our differences,” she said, adding, however: “We believe it is in
the interest of both countries for the relationship to be stabilised.”