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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has labelled his surprise trade trip to China "a very successful visit" and downplayed concerns about transparency during the four days of meetings.
Key points:
- Daniel Andrews says his visit was about sending a message that Victoria wants to deepen its relationship with China
- He says defence and security issues were not raised on the trip, nor was the detention of Melbourne woman Cheng Lei
- The state has established new working groups on trade and higher education partnerships
Mr Andrews flew to China late on Monday, less than two days after the visit was announced, and returned early on Saturday. The focus of his trip was attracting more Chinese students back to the state.
Addressing media on Sunday morning for the first time since his return, Mr Andrews said it was "a very successful visit, meeting with senior officials".
After a meeting with China's Education Minister, a working group was established to focus on postgraduate students moving between China and Victoria.
Another working group was established after meetings with leaders from Sichuan province, alongside a taskforce with Jiangsu province, both aimed at moving the "sister province" relationships forward.
"Between those two provinces, it's 175 million people, pretty much. This is an enormous opportunity for us," Mr Andrews said.
The premier was widely criticised for not taking reporters with him on the trade mission, while a peak body for the international education sector was critical of the fact there were no educators travelling from Australia.
Scant details were provided about the premier's meetings with leaders and diplomats in Beijing, and the Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the trip was "still shrouded in secrecy and many questions remained".
Mr Pesutto said the questions he wanted answered included why journalists and experts were not invited and what else the premier did on his trip.
The opposition leader pointed to the West Australian Premier Mark McGowan's upcoming trip to China, saying that leader had given advanced notice and was allowing media to attend.
"There is an important set of principles at stake here — scrutiny and transparency," Mr Pesutto said.
The Liberal Party last week pushed for a parliamentary inquiry into the way the trip was conducted, a move which is unlikely to be successful.
Mr Andrews downplayed transparency questions, saying he had travelled internationally without media in the past, including his previous visit to China and Vietnam in 2019.
"It's not always the case that media travels with us and, again, I'm not certain that visas would have been issued," he said.
China is consistently ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom and very few western journalists are currently based in China after a number were forced out.
However, when asked whether the risk of journalists being detained was a consideration when planning the trip, Mr Andrews replied: "No. That's not a matter for us."
Mr Andrews said that, with back-to-back meetings and no deals signed, "it wasn't a trip to take 100 businesses or nine or 10 vice-chancellors".
"This was about sending a really clear message that, after a terribly disruptive event — a tragic event — we still value, and we want to see, the relationship and partnership deepen," he said.
Foreign policy 'not matters that I take responsibility for', Andrews says
The trip was significant because it was the first time Mr Andrews had visited the nation's biggest trading partner since the Belt and Road deal was scrapped, as well as the first time an Australian leader had visited China since the controversial AUKUS submarine deal had been signed.
While the trade relationship between Australia and China has been gradually thawing, defence, strategic policy and human rights issues remain contentious.
Mr Andrews said there had been "very deep" engagement with the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before the trip.
It is understood Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was supportive of the visit.
However, Mr Andrews repeatedly said that, as a state leader, it was not his role to raise foreign policy issues.
"As a state leader, those matters were not raised and, if they had been raised, then I would have offered very little comment, other to say that they are not matters that I take responsibility for," he said.
The partner of detained Melbourne journalist Cheng Lei had urged the premier to raise her plight on the trip.
Ms Cheng has two children, who both live in Melbourne and have not seen their mother for more than two years.
Her partner, Nick Coyle, last week told the ABC that "supporting two young Victorian children by making representations to officials in China for regular contact with their mother would be an entirely appropriate thing for a premier to do".
The premier last week flagged he would not be raising the issue of Australians in custody while on the trip, saying they were "deeply sensitive matters" best dealt with by the Australian foreign service.
Mr Andrews confirmed on Sunday that he did not raise Ms Lei’s plight on the trip, saying it was not his job to cut across sensitive consular matters.
On Sunday, Mr Coyle said that, while he did not have high expectations for the visit, he had hoped the premier would raise the issue.
"Obviously he had flagged that he wasn't going to mention it, and that's disappointing," he said.
"But really, it's not about me — it's disappointing for Lei and it's disappointing for the kids."
He said he understood that these issues were usually dealt with at a Commonwealth level, but said he thought the premier could have raised the issue on behalf of the Victorian, Ms Cheng, and her Melbourne-based children.
"From a Victorian context, her ongoing detention causes significant concern amongst the wider public, and that of course is going to negatively impact the relationship between Victoria and China," he said.