The Victorian Government Trade and Investment network has five offices in China, including one in Shanghai. Photo: Global Victoria, Victorian Government.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced a trip to China aimed at bolstering economic ties.
Ms Allan will lead the delegation to China, which is Victoria’s No. 1 trading partner and largest source of international travellers.
The trip will be her third, but her first as Premier. She will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing as well as sister states such as Chengdu, Jiangsu Province, Deyang and the newest, Sichuan Province.
Ms Allan will launch Victoria’s China Strategy in Beijing, which the Victorian Government has outlined will guide the state’s engagement over the next five years.
The strategy, announced in May, centres on five strengths:
- Food and fibre
- Advanced manufacturing and clean energy
- Medical technology and pharmaceuticals
- International education
- Tourism and the creative industries.
Under the strategy, the government aims to become the “first port of call” for Chinese businesses to invest in and for the Chinese community to study and visit.
Victoria has pursued closer relationships with China in recent years, with the Federal Government intervening in 2021 to tear up the state’s ambitions to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative after the State Government signed a memorandum of understanding to increase cooperation on infrastructure projects.
The agreement was torn up in its early stages by the then-Liberal Government, which claimed that Victoria’s economic and trade policy was inconsistent with national foreign policy as well as the policy of other states.
At the time of the intervention, relations between Australia and China were at a low point, with a diplomatic row over the COVID-19 epidemic leading to a freeze in relations and a trade war, which placed tariffs on Australian goods such as wine, hitting industry hard.
Relations with China are now thawing, with the Federal Government taking on a more cooperative stance and former premier Dan Andrews recently making headlines for visiting Beijing during China’s celebration of 80 years since its victory over Japan in World War II.
