Bilateral ties between Australia and China have been strained by a suspended death sentence handed to a Chinese-Australian dissident writer
AFP

China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said Tuesday that the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to impose additional tariffs should not impact Canberra-Beijing relations.

While speaking to reporters in Canberra, Xiao said China and Australia should not jeopardize their national priorities "for the sake of a third party," according to Sky News.

"U.S. policy on trade with China, with other countries as well will have an impact and that is an important element that we have to consider," he added, Reuters reported.

Xiao's statements came as Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports, specifically an extra 10% tariff on top of existing tariffs.

Underlining the importance of global trade in the face of rising protectionism, Xiao said there was looming concern that the downside of the longstanding Sino-U.S. trade tensions may also be potentially faced by other countries, including Australia.

"We have common ground and this has been the foundation for a good relationship over the decades, bringing so many benefits to our two countries," he said. "We are still in a transition period so perhaps we need to be a little patient... to see what bilaterally we can do between China and the US".

Last year saw China becoming Australia's biggest two-way trading partner, making up a substantial 26% of the latter's international commerce in products and services.

Beijing, which had implemented significant trade restrictions under the previous administration, had lifted trade barriers on beef, barley, timber, coal, cotton, wine and lobster in 2023 after Anthony Albanese became prime minister.

"We experienced a difficult time for several years until two years ago and since then, we have been successfully changing that situation," Xiao said. "2022 was a year of stabilization. President Xi met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ... And the year of 2023 was a year of immense improvement."

"We are interdependent with each other. China is the major importer from Australia, and Australia relies on China as its biggest market," Xiao said, per Sky News. "And no other country can single-handedly take the place of China in this respect. And we do not see any other country can take the place of Australia. So we have confidence that, as we manage our relationship, we can have a mutually beneficial relationship."

"Looking forward into the future, we are expecting – at least I am expecting – a move beyond stabilization, moving further into development," Xiao said. "Because we have so many areas that we share, contributing to the fundamental interests of our two countries."