Australia Evades US Tensions to Seek Closer China Trade Ties (1)

The prime minister of Australia, a longtime US security partner in Asia, sought to focus his trip to China this week on business and trade opportunities, sidestepping thornier issues around US-China competition such as Taiwan or Beijing’s military expansion.

Since taking office just over three years ago, Anthony Albanese has repaired his country’s relationship with China, Australia’s No. 1 export market, after suffering Beijing’s punitive tariffs and other restrictions during the pandemic.

Now, however, President Donald Trump’s renewed trade war between the US and China risks again destabilizing those ties, as they do for Japan, South Korea, the ...