Penny Wong, Australia's foreign?Minister, said that the Chinese government had agreed to cooperate with Australian companies on jet fuel shipments. She suggested China could relax?curbs? on exports due to supply disruptions caused by the Iran war.

Wong, who spoke to reporters in Beijing about her visit, said that she was there to push for Chinese cooperation, "in particular, for the supply of liquid fuels".

Wong is on tour in China, as part of an international trip that includes Japan and South Korea. Canberra wants to maintain a stable relationship with Beijing while also coordinating with regional powers regarding energy security.

Since the Middle -East conflict began in February, Australia, which imports the majority of its fuel, has been experiencing localised shortages.

Beijing has been clamping down on fuel imports to protect the domestic supply since March, after the Strait of Hormuz closure disrupted crude oil and fuel flows.

China is the largest source of jet fuel in Asia, and it supplied one-third of Australia's supply last year.

Wong told her Chinese counterpart that she had "made it clear that the products that China imports to Australia, such as jet fuel, help to support the Australian resource sector, and in turn, maintain the flow" of commodities that are vital to the bilateral trading relationship.

Wong stated that "our energy security is shared." She added that "energy supplies to us impact our ability to supply other commodities and energy to the region."

Trading sources say China has approved 500,000 tons of fuel exports to other regions than Hong Kong for May. This is a near-doubling of the April forecasts, but still less than half compared to corresponding levels last year.

The Australian Foreign Minister said that it was more important than ever to work together in order to coordinate our response and keep fuel and goods flowing. Lewis Jackson, Ethan Wang, Xiuhao chen and Peter Graff edited the article.

(source: Reuters)