Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to visit Australia in the third week of June amid improving relations, with the unofficial import ban on Australian live lobsters set to be lifted, according to sources with knowledge of the issue.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has been invited to visit Australia in late March, anonymous sources say, confirming a continued interest in smoothing over fraught relations.
China has been lifting trade barriers on other Australian goods as relations improve, and data shows winemakers sent almost 2.5 million litres of wine worth US$65.5 million to Hong Kong in December.
China is conducting a review into its tariffs on Australian wine, and expectations are rife that levies will be removed next month, with Treasury Wine Estates planning to reallocate stock from other global markets.