Minister Pat Gorman assures Chinese business leaders of strong relationship amid tensions with Beijing

Anthony Albanese’s assistant minister has praised Western Australia’s “special relationship” with China as diplomatic tensions continue to simmer over Beijing’s recent missile test and Taiwan’s push to establish a new trade office in Perth.

In a speech to the Boao Forum on Monday, Federal Perth MP Patrick Gorman also urged visiting senior Chinese business figures to lower emissions saying every nation “has a responsibility to act” on climate change.

“The collective responsibility that inspired this forum is just as critical. Every nation has a responsibility to act on the existential challenge of climate change,” Mr Gorman argued.

“Some falsely claim it is a choice. The truth is that prosperity and climate action go hand in hand.”

Over recent weeks diplomatic tensions between the Albanese government and Australia’s largest trading partner have intensified particularly after the People’s Liberation Army test-fired a nuclear-capable missile into the Pacific.

During his speech Mr Gorman avoided any mention of recent diplomatic tensions but heaped praise on the “highly complementary” economic relationship between both countries.

“For decades, Australian businesses, resources and ideas have helped shape China’s extraordinary economic transformation. In turn, one in four Australian jobs rely on trade,” he told an audience of Chinse business heavyweights. “I do not need to tell anyone here who Australia’s biggest trading partner is. It is a relationship that has a special significance here in Western Australia. Three quarters of Australia’s exports to China come from this state”.

Following weeks of controversy over Pauline Hanson’s comments calling for a monocultural Australia, the Assistant Minister also assured the mostly Chinese audience that multiculturalism now flourishes in the city.

“After Australia federated, one of the first bills introduced to our Federal Parliament was the Immigration Restriction Bill. Today we consider this bill to be the introduction of the ‘White Australia Policy”, he said. “A discriminatory policy that held Australia’s national character back and it held our economy back.”

“Though many of the challenging chapters of our national history, like the White Australia Policy, are – thankfully – behind us, reminders still linger.”

Mr Gorman’s address to the Boao Forum also comes as China’s embassy continues to lobby the Albanese government to block a bid by Taiwan to establish a new trade office in Perth, alongside existing ones in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The West Australian earlier this month revealed Taiwan had submitted a proposal to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to establish the additional Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO).

Under the long-standing One China policy, Taiwan does not enjoy formal diplomatic relations with Australia, but its interests are represented here by an unofficial embassy.

DFAT has so far declined to comment on if the Taiwanese proposal for an office in Perth is likely to be approved, or whether it will be blocked in line with China’s demands.

“Australia values our deep and productive unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including through engagement with Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (TECO) in Australia,” a DFAT spokesperson told The West earlier this month.

The West has also approached Mr Gorman for comment on whether he would support Taiwan’s proposal for an office in his home state, but he has not yet responded.

Chinese diplomats last week stormed out of the Australian Labor Party’s national conference in Adelaide in protest at the presence of Taiwanese officials at the event.

Last week The Nightly revealed the Taiwanese delegation had been invited to observe the conference, a courtesy also extended to nations including the US and China, but one that was guaranteed to upset the Chinese embassy in Canberra.

At the same time Foreign Minister Penny Wong used a speech to warn China that Australia and other neighbouring nations would not be bullied by its “provocative” actions, following involvement another “destabilising and dangerous” incident involving the Philippines.