Australia Treasurer to travel to China this week

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would travel to China this week for talks with Chinese counterparts, the first such visit by an Australian Treasurer in seven years.

The main purpose of the visit is to co-chair the Australia China Strategic Economic Dialogue, which has not been convened for seven years, with the chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Chalmers said.

“This is another really important step towards stabilising our economic relationship with China,” Chalmers told a news conference on Wednesday.

He will also meet with other high-level members of China’s government, he added.

Ties between the nations had soured after Australia in 2017 accused China of meddling in its politics. An Australian call in 2020 for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 further infuriated China, which responded with blocks on various Australian imports.

But China has since lifted almost all trade curbs after an outreach from Australia’s Labour government that won power in 2022.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar)