China removes cap on Australia beef exports

Australia does not have to choose between the United States and China, the Australian prime minister said Friday as he announced a new beef export deal with the Chinese.

Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attend a signing ceremony of a series of cooperation agreements, after their annual meeting in Canberra, Australia on Friday, March 24, 2017. China and Australia signed eight cooperation agreements covering areas including trade and investment, inspection and quarantine, climate change, agriculture, culture, education and the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. [Photo: gov.cn]

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang oversaw signing of bilateral agreements that will expand their two-year-old free trade pact.

China also agreed to remove a cap that allows only 11 Australian beef exporters to sell 400 million Australian dollars (300 million US dollars) in frozen meat to the burgeoning ranks of the Chinese middleclass.

China will be open to all eligible Australian beef exporters.

Turnbull later rejected arguments that Australia must choose between its most important security partner, the United States, and its most important trading partner, China, as tensions escalate between the world's two largest economies.

Li, who on Wednesday warned Australia against "taking sides, as happened during the Cold War," agreed with Turnbull.

"We believe China-Australia cooperation will bring good to other countries and regions, and this cooperation will not be targeted at any third party," he said, referring to the United States.

The United States has questioned aspects of the rapidly evolving commercial relationship between the Chinese and Australians, including Australia's decision to allow a Chinese company, Landbridge, to secure a 99-year lease over the strategically important Port of Darwin.

Darwin has become training hub for US Marines in northern Australia.