Business leaders are looking beyond the political tensions in the relationship with China to find ways to step up exchanges with Australia’s largest trading partner.
Two dozen Australian and Chinese executives met on Tuesday morning to swap views about how their countries could cooperate further in energy, mining, agriculture and services, create an attractive and competitive business environment, further innovation and strengthen supply chains.
They will report later in the day to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang as part of the leaders’ tour of Perth.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black, who hosted the meeting in a King’s Park venue, said there was a strong desire on both sides to strengthen the relationship.
“Whilst the parameters of a bilateral relationship are set by governments, they will always be sustained by the quality of personal relationships and especially those personal relationships that exist on a business-to-business level,” he said at the opening of the meeting.
“Looking around I can see the warmth of some of those connections. I know of at least five – but I’m sure that there are more – relationships between Australian members of this delegation and Chinese members of this delegation. I hope to see a few more by the end of this meeting and in the weeks to come.”
Mr Albanese and Mr Li held formal talks in Canberra on Monday before travelling to Western Australia.
In a statement after that meeting, Mr Li said he hoped Australia would “foster a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese businesses” and actively expand cooperation in renewable power generation and electric vehicles.
Australia is in the midst of overhauling its foreign investment rules to both streamline approvals for trusted partners and apply more scrutiny to proposals in areas likely to affect the national interest.
This includes areas where the Government wants to beef up Australian capabilities to diversify global supply chains, such as in processed critical minerals where China has a near-monopoly.
Mr Li is touring the Tianqi lithium processing plant in Kwinana along with Premier Roger Cook and Resources Minister Madeleine King, and will also visit a Fortescue green hydrogen R&D facility.
He and Mr Albanese will attend a community banquet lunch as well as the business meeting.