China-Australia relations: trade minister torch passes to Dan Tehan as bilateral feud enters ninth month

Simon Birmingham levels criticism at China on his way out the door, but stresses the importance of dialogue and says problems are not beyond repair

Australia’s merchandise trade surplus fell to a two-year low in November, driven largely by ongoing geopolitical dispute with China

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Dan Tehan has replaced Simon Birmingham as Australia’s trade minister. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:00pm, 23 Dec 2020Updated: 10:52am, 24 Dec 2020

Former Australian trade minister Simon Birmingham has called on Beijing to give his replacement, Dan Tehan, the courtesy of a phone call – a gesture toward resolving the two country’s political differences – as it was announced that Australia’s merchandise trade surplus fell to a two-year low in November, hit by a slump in exports to China.

Australia’s goods trade surplus dropped to A$1.9 billion (US$1.43 billion) last month from A$4.7 billion in October, led by a 10 per cent decrease in its exports to China, coupled with an 11 per cent rise in imports from China, according to preliminary data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

Birmingham was on the front line of the conflict between the two countries that heated up in April when Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus without consulting Beijing. He concluded his role as trade minister on Tuesday by encouraging Australian exporters to diversify to other markets amid the protracted dispute with China. On Wednesday, he formally assumed the role of finance minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

“China should, of course, come to the table and show the courtesy to a new trade minister in being willing to have dialogue,” he said in an interview with Sky News. “But the honest truth is that the challenges, in terms of government-to-government engagement and ministerial-level engagement between China and Australia, go back many years and predate even my appointment as trade minister.

“Now, I think this has been an error on China’s part – that the, in a sense, first thing they cut was a willingness to actually sit down and talk, whereas that should be the last thing that you take off the table, because the way you work through problems and differences and issues is to engage in dialogue.”