On the final day of his four-day tour to Australia, Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to visit a lithium processing factory in the resource-rich state of Western Australia after meeting with legislators and business executives there on Tuesday. Leading Australian corporations and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be present at a business roundtable in Perth, which Li, China’s most senior official after President Xi Jinping, is expected to attend.
Li’s visit, the first one to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years, signifies a stabilization of relations between the second-biggest economy in the world and the U.S. security ally. After a string of squabbles about the source of COVID-19, Chinese export bans worth $20 billion, and tensions over military clashes between the two nations, relations are now improving. He is slated to tour a lithium hydroxide processing plant operated by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, which is 49% owned by Australian miner IGO and 51% owned by Shenzhen and Hong Kong-listed Tianqi Lithium, according to Australian media.
More than half of the world’s seaborne iron ore—China being one of the main consumers—and half of its lithium are supplied by Western Australia. Although Australia has rejected some recent investment in essential minerals on the grounds of national interest, China has historically invested in mining ventures in Australia.
Before going to Canberra, Li had made the announcement that Beijing would give two additional pandas after the existing couple returned home later in 2024, during stops at an Adelaide Zoo and a winery in South Australia.
