Time to talk to Chinese: minister

TRADE Minister Simon Birmingham hopes China agrees to talks to soothe tensions between the two countries “sooner rather than later”.

Senator Birmingham’s Chinese counterpart has previously ignored his phone calls to try to heal growing frictions, which appeared to start when Australia pursued an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.

China has since slapped a hefty tariff on imports on Australian barley, blocked certain beef imports and warned tourists and students not to travel to Australia because they say it is unsafe and racist.

In another development in the relationship with Australia’s number one trading partner, China announced on Saturday it was sentencing an Australian drug smuggler, Karm Gilespie, to death after being in prison there since 2013. Gilespie, who had a regular part on Blue Heelers in the 1990s, was more recently a financial investor, according to the Daily Mail website.

He was arrested in Hong Kong in December 2013 with more than 7.5kg of methamphetamine.

Asked on Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program whether he thought this incident was linked to the ongoing political row between China and Australia, the senator said: “We shouldn’t necessarily view it as such.”

But he rejected any suggestion that Australia is not a safe country for visitors and dents to live and study in.

“As a country we offer high quality education, an amazing lifestyle for those who come here, opportunities to experience the Australian way of life and, of course, a very safe environment,” Senator Birmingham said.

He said over the past couple of years China had made similar types of warnings and that hadn’t stopped Chinese stustu

AS A COUNTRY WE OFFER HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION … AND, OF COURSE, A VERY SAFE ENVIRONMENT

dents and tourists from coming to Australia.

The minister said he would like to visit China in person when it was appropriate, given present international travel bans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But I do think that in terms of dealing with points of difference between nations ... (the best way) is dialogue, open discussion,” he said.

“I hope that we will see China agree to that and do so, ideally, sooner rather than later.

“It doesn’t need to wait for a visit, it can be done through virtual summits, phone calls or otherwise.”