This week in Australian foreign affairs: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to travel to China for annual leaders meeting; Wong announces deepening of Vuvale partnership with Fiji; Wong in Malaysia for ASEAN-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum, and more.
On 8 July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he will be travelling to the People’s Republic of China from Saturday 12 July to Friday 18 July 2025 for the Annual Leaders’ Meeting. The invitation was made at the request of Premier Li Qiang. While in Beijing, Albanese will meet with Li, as well as President Xi Jinping and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress. The leaders are expected to “exchange views on global and regional issues as well as bilateral cooperation in areas including trade and tourism.” After Beijing, Albanese will “visit Shanghai and Chengdu, where he will meet business, tourism and sport representatives and build on Australia’s strong economic and trade links with China.” This will be Albanese’s second visit to China as prime minister.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong joined Treasurer Jim Chalmers on 6 July to announce the appointment of Stephen Jones as Australia’s next Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Jones is a former Federal Member of Parliament (2010 until 2025) and has previously worked in the Treasury portfolio, as well as served as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services. During that time, “Jones delivered reforms to strengthen Australia’s superannuation and financial systems, modernise markets, and improve the integrity of our tax system.” According to the statement, “Australia contributes to and benefits from the OECD’s work in areas spanning trade, health, employment, agriculture, overseas development assistance, energy, education, taxation, digital economy, and environment policy.”
Also on 6 July, Wong joined Minister for Pacific Affairs Pat Conroy to announce an elevation of the Vuvale Partnership with Fiji. In deepening partnerships, Australia is: “funding two technical advisers to lead the implementation of Fiji’s new National Security Strategy; embedding Australian Federal Police officers in the Fiji Police Force to extend policing cooperation; providing $12 million (FJD 17.6 million) to strengthen border security by improving shipping container screening at Lautoka and Suva Ports; and increasing Australia’s bilateral development assistance to Fiji by $40 million (FJD 56 million) over four years, taking the total to just under $500 million (FJD 734 million) from 2025 to 2029.” In a recent visit to Australia, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka met with Conroy, and, with members of the delegation, met the Governor-General, Albanese, Home Affairs Minister Anthony Burke, and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. While in Australia, the Fiji delegation also visited “the 130-strong Royal Fiji Military Forces Rotational Company participating in Exercise South Queensland Warfighter as part of the Australian Defence Force 7th Brigade, as well as the Pacific Policing Initiative facilities in Pinkenba where Fiji is part of a regional policing effort, and the Australian Border Force-led Maritime Border Command.”
On 9 July, Wong announced she will travel to Malaysia to attend the annual ASEAN-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum. During the meetings, Wong “will outline Australia’s steadfast support for ASEAN centrality and ASEAN priorities” and “reaffirm Australia’s commitment to working with ASEAN on conflict prevention and our steadfast support for multilateralism, rules-based trade and international law.” While there, Wong will meet with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamad Hasan to discuss strengthening economic, strategic, and people-to-people ties.
Australia will provide a further $10 million in humanitarian assistance for the Indo-Pacific, Wong announced on 10 July. The assistance will go toward improving regional disaster response and to help displaced women and girls from Myanmar. “In partnership with the Australian Red Cross and the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, Australia will provide $6 million to help local Non-Government Organisations and Red Cross National Societies to access rapid support for disaster response and recovery in the region.” “Australia will also provide $4 million to the United Nations Population Fund for support and services to women and girls from Myanmar. The funding will assist UNFPA to deliver maternal, child and newborn care, and deliver gender-based violence, mental health and psychosocial support services.”
Also on 10 July, Minister for Trade and Tourism, and Special Minister of State Don Farrell announced the latest trade and investment mission to India. The mission “will be attended by 30 delegates from across 22 innovative Australian companies, showcasing Australia’s cutting-edge clean energy solutions.” Led by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in partnership with the New South Wales and Victorian Governments, and supported by Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, the mission aims to deepen energy cooperation with India.
Dr Adam Bartley is the managing editor for AIIA’s Australian Outlook and weekly columnist for The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and non-resident fellow at the Elliot School for International Affairs, the George Washington University. Adam also has positions as post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation RMIT University and as program manager of the AI Trilateral Experts Group. He can be found on Twitter here.
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