‘Permanent tension’

The tariffs have been gradually lifted since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government took power in 2022 and adopted a softer diplomatic approach towards China. Lobster is one of the few exports still facing trade barriers.

Li and Albanese are set to hold talks behind closed doors in Canberra on Monday, encompassing fractious issues of foreign influence, human rights, alleged “unsafe” behaviour by China’s military in the region, and their rivalry in the Pacific.

China’s growing clout in the South Pacific, where it seeks to expand security and economic ties with island states traditionally allied with Australia, remains a notable point of tension.

“We’re in a state of permanent contest in the Pacific. That’s the reality,” Wong told a television interviewer Sunday.

But the Chinese premier, who will also head to a lithium mine in Perth, is focusing his attention on economic opportunities despite areas of friction.

“Mutual respect, seeking common ground while shelving differences and mutually beneficial cooperation” are key to the relationship, Li said on his arrival in Adelaide on Saturday.

Australia has endured “a long period of deep freeze, where it was not possible to have any sort of official conversations with China”, said Melissa Conley Tyler, honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute.

Li’s visit sends a message that “Australia is back to being seen as a friendly country rather than the unfriendly, hostile country we were seen as during those years of maximum tension,” she told AFP.