Australia, China agree to seek regional energy security

AFP | Sydney

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Australia and China agreed yesterday to back region‑ al energy security as the world faced rising oil prices sparked by war in the Middle East, both governments said.

Australia’s Prime Minister An‑ thony Albanese held a telephone call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to discuss the importance of energy security “in light of the current global challenges”, ac‑ cording to a Canberra summary of their conversation.

“The Prime Minister and Premier Li agreed to increase government-to-government communication so that Austral‑ ia and China are both working in support of regional energy security,” it said.

The two sides agreed that high-level engagement was central to a “mature, stable and constructive relationship”.

Li said that their economic co‑ operation has “enormous poten‑ tial in the long run”, adding that “both sides should accelerate the review and upgrading of the bilateral free trade agreement”.

“China is willing to import more high-quality products from Australia” while there is “great potential” for deeper co‑ operation on clean energy, Li said, according to a Chinese for‑ eign ministry readout.

Australia relies on imports for an estimated 90% of its refined petroleum products, most of it coming from Asia.

China is a major source of avi‑ ation fuel for Australia while also being a big importer of Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG). Albanese said he would travel to Singapore on Thurs‑ day to discuss trade in essential supplies such as diesel and LNG. Singapore is Australia’s largest single supplier of refined petro‑ leum products.

Last week, the Australian gov‑ ernment halved its fuel tax on petrol for three months to help alleviate rising costs for motor‑ ists and truck drivers.