It’s been a busy month so far for Chinese diplomats, with Beijing working hard to display its global leadership bona fides at three major meetings: the APEC summit in Beijing, ASEAN-related meetings (including the East Asia Summit) in Myanmar, and finally the G20 summit in Australia. A good portion of China’s agenda at these meetings was economic, and it paid off – Beijing has effectively concluded free trade agreements with both Australia and South Korea.
An FTA between Australia and China was a major priority for both governments, with the two sides setting a target of finalizing the deal in 2014. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s time in Australia as part of the G20 summit, the two sides announced that they have effectively completed the negotiations.
On Monday, Xi and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the “practical conclusion of bilateral FTA talks,” according to Xinhua. Xi called the FTA “a high-quality, high-level deal” that addresses both sides’ concerns. For Australia, the main concerns were removing or at least lowering Chinese barriers to foreign agricultural products as well as loosening restrictions on the service industry. China, meanwhile, wanted more freedom for Chinese companies to invest in Australia.
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