Men at work: Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley greeting Li at Government House in Canberra. — Reuters
Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited a lithium processing plant in resource-rich Western Australia state yesterday, highlighting China’s push to secure critical minerals as Washington tries to break Beijing’s supply dominance.
Western Australia supplies more than half of the world’s seaborne iron ore, with China its top customer, and half of its lithium used in electric vehicles, smartphones and other electronic devices.
Li’s visit to Australia, which began Sunday, is the first by a Chinese premier in seven years and marks a stabilisation in ties between the US ally and the world’s second-biggest economy.
While China has largely lifted suspensions imposed on US$20bil worth of Australian exports in 2020, it continues to express concerns about obstacles to Chinese investment in Australia’s vast resources industry.
Critical minerals including rare earths have become an area of intense competition between China and the US, which sees Australia’s deposits as a way to break China’s grip on global supply.
Australia last month blocked several Chinese investors from increasing stakes in a rare earths miner on national interest grounds, and last year blocked the acquisition of a lithium mine by Chinese interests.
The US this year extended its support for the first time to back two Australian-listed rare earths projects to help build out the supply chain.
Li said on Monday that China hoped Australia would provide “a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises”, and told the business roundtable the two countries benefit from each other’s development.
Cooperation was important for stabilising industrial supply chains and boosting economic growth, Li said, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Albanese told the Australian and Chinese executives that three-quarters of Australia’s exports to China come from Western Australia.
He also said his government wants to create jobs in critical minerals processing, refining and manufacturing, and sell to a broader range of markets.
“Our commitment to investing in local manufacturing doesn’t mean cutting trade ties or pulling-up the economic drawbridge. Far from it,” he said. — Reuters
