Australia’s government urges China to remove trade barriers

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new government has urged China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to reset a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the previous administration. The Chinese premier’s congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his election victory was widely seen as a relaxation of Beijing’s two-year ban on high-level government contact with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang said China was ready to work with Australia to develop the bilateral relationship. But Albanese said it was China, not Australia, that had changed since Labor was last in power in 2013. China has created a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in recent years to a range of Australian exports.