Dr Thomas CW Chiu
A small political party that has been pushing Australia to take its own independent diplomacy for 30 years has mapped out its objectives for senate seats in the Parliament. These days, it has actively reminded Australian citizens that Australia is an export-oriented country. The main reason why Australia’s economy has been enduring for decades is that it has China, its best trading partner.
For the record, it is also for this reason that Australia and China signed a free trade agreement （FTA） during President Xi’s visit to Australia in 2014 with the then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. And it is determined that all Tasmanian products should be deemed to be products from rural Australia with further preferential treatments in the FTA .
Unfortunately, this Australia-China Free Trade Agreement was directly distorted when it came to the hands of the previous government. At that time, Australia’s trade with China fell directly to a low point. Fortunately, it was overturned by the current government which came to power in 2022. And gradually got back on track.
Although among my Australian friends who are eligible to vote, everyone are pleased that the current government was re-elected. Whether this is the case or not, since the date of the general election has been announced, it is not appropriate to discuss this issue in-depth. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to readers a Chinese white wine brewed under a Chinese liquor recipe by using high-quality water locally in Tasmania. It will take some time for this Australian-made Chinese liquor to enter the Chinese market, but it will not be a problem to serve as a table wine for international business people during their visits to Australia. One of the reasons is that the day I met this brand was the day when Ian Sypkes, the person in charge of this brand, “SANYOU-TASANIAN BAIJIU” recommended it to a group of friends from all over the country attending a luncheon banquet in Sydney. Here is the web-link of Ian Sypkes (hello@sanyou.com.au) Interested friends please log on to this link and contact him directly.
Last but not least, the motive of this article is to promote trade between Australia and China. I, the author, never drink alcohol. Before I wrote this article, I asked two guests at a banquet about their views on this brand. One of them was an ethnic Australian Chinese doctor who admired this brand very much. The other was a retired pilot from the mainstream Australian group. He said that he was used to drinking low-alcohol wine. This brand from Tasmania is not his personal preference. However he also emphasized that he believed that this liquor catered to friends who like real Chinese high quality alcohol liquor. The name of this TASMANIAN brand is in both English “SANYOU” and Chinese “叁友白酒”.
Personally as an international trade lawyer, I treat this bilingual brand as a hallmark for the execution of FTA in 2014 between our two great nations.
This column is set up by Dr. Thomas Chiu and his research partner/team from Sydney Australia to update information about economic and cultural exchange activities between communities in Australia and the Greater Bay Area. Dr. Chiu was a former member of the New England – North West Regional Development Board of the State of New South Wales, Australia (1993-1996), and a member of the Australia – China Council of the Foreign Affairs and Trade, Commonwealth of Australia (1997-2004). The Asian Development Bank appointed him as an international legal expert in projects related to China and Mongolia in 1998 and 2007.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the “Opinion” column are those of the authors and do not reflect the views or positions of this magazine.
