China gripes over Australia’s scrutiny of its firms

China’s international trade negotiator has expressed concern about Australia’s scrutiny of the operations of Chinese firms, the commerce ministry said, though he flagged the potential for economic and trade co-operation.

The comments by commerce vice-minister Wang Shouwen came during a meeting with Australia’s deputy secretarygeneral for foreign affairs and trade in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Monday.

The meeting continues an apparent thaw in trade ties that led China to lift curbs on Australian coal exports in early January, though the trade partners continue to feud over Australian exports of wine, beef, barley, seafood, and timber.

It also came a day before Canberra, citing security concerns, vowed to remove TikTok, the social media platform owned by China’s ByteDance, from all devices owned by the federal government, citing security concerns.

Wang urged Canberra to “provide a fair, open and nondiscriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises” during the meeting.

His remarks echoed what Chinese foreign ministry officials have said about the US decision to place the app under greater scrutiny.

“China-Australia economic and trade relations are at an important juncture of stabilisation and improvement,” the ministry quoted Wang as saying, while calling for stronger communication and co-ordination to help resolve concerns.

Mike Henry. the CEO of mining giant BHP, and China’s foreign vice-minister Xie Feng met on March 27, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

It expressed hope for a greater contribution by BHP to improving ties, particularly in new areas such as climate change and new energy.