Aussie treasurer: National interests come first with China

Australia's treasurer says his country will always keep its national interests ahead of economic interests in its troubled relationship with China

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia will always keep its national interests ahead of economic interests in its troubled relationship with China, a senior Australian lawmaker said Wednesday after a White House official predicted long-term Sino-Australian tensions. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, deputy leader of Australia’s ruling conservative Liberal Party, said China remained a “very important economic partner” despite bilateral disputes that had disrupted tens of billions of dollars in trade in Australian commodities including coal, wine, beef, barley, wood and lobsters. “We will not put economic interests first,” Frydenberg told reporters. “We will put the broader national interest first and that means standing up with a very clear and consistent sense of where our national interest is and that is what we have done,” he added.