China and Australia have sealed a trade agreement that significantly expands ties between Asia’s largest economy and one of Washington’s closest allies in the region.
Separately, China said that it was giving Australia more access to its capital markets and allowing it to clear renminbi stock trades, measures that would bolster Beijing’s efforts to free Chinese financial markets and promote global use of its currency, the renminbi.
The trade deal will open up Chinese markets to Australian farm and service-sector exports while easing limits on Chinese investment in resource-rich Australia.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and President Xi Jinping signed a memorandum of understanding for the agreement at a ceremony in Parliament in Canberra.