China Australia Photo: CFP

China is willing to work with Australia to implement the important census reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote healthy and stable development of the bilateral relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday in Beijing.

Australian goods such as barley and wine were made subject to high tariffs as part of the anti-dumping efforts by China, leaving the corresponding goods losing the edge in China's vast market. Poor management of bilateral relations during the previous Morrison government shadowed two-way trade.

While the two sides are negotiating for a solution, with industry insiders restoring interest and confidence in Australian products amid improving relations between China and Australia, positive outcomes are likely.

Speaking in Detroit after his third meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in the past two months, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said he expects China will remove its 80 percent tariffs on Australian barley within the next few weeks, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

"We're making progress, but the job is not finished," Farrell said.

In May 2020, after more than a year of investigations, China announced that it would impose 73.6 percent anti-dumping duties and 6.9 percent countervailing duties on imported barley from Australia for a period of five years.

In responding to media question over Farrell's remarks, Mao said that "as a principle, we always believe that the healthy and stable development of China-Australia relations is in the common interests of the two countries and the two peoples."

China is willing to work with Australia to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations, the spokesperson noted.

The reported progress came less than two month after China and Australia reached consensus on barley dispute within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework in April.

Within the framework of the WTO, China and Australia have conducted friendly consultations and reached a consensus on the barley dispute, demonstrating the spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said on April 11.

China and Australian relations have returned toward the right direction following the Bali summit between the two countries' leaders last November. Since then, momentum is gaining pace, with frequent high level meetings and interactions between the two sides not only on the governmental but business level as well.

Driven by the trend of warming China-Australia relations, trade activities have also seen uplift, with major Australian products to China such as coal and beef resuming amid rising enthusiasm on the part of Chinese companies and consumers toward Australian products.

Global Times