diff --git a/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Python_Xlang_IO_Dataflow.json b/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Python_Xlang_IO_Dataflow.json
index b26833333238..c537844dc84a 100644
--- a/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Python_Xlang_IO_Dataflow.json
+++ b/.github/trigger_files/beam_PostCommit_Python_Xlang_IO_Dataflow.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
   "comment": "Modify this file in a trivial way to cause this test suite to run",
-  "modification": 2
+  "modification": 3
 }
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/README.txt b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/README.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 1d697caeee6a..000000000000
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/README.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-To regenerate these files run
-
-pip install google-apitools[cli]
-gen_client \
-    --discovery_url dataflow.v1b3 \
-    --overwrite \
-    --root_package=. \
-    --outdir=apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/dataflow \
-    client
-
-Patch up the imports in __init__ to make them conditional.
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/__init__.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index cce3acad34a4..000000000000
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/internal/clients/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
-# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
-# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
-# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
-# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
-# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-#
diff --git a/sdks/python/test-suites/dataflow/common.gradle b/sdks/python/test-suites/dataflow/common.gradle
index cbc79585a5f6..3bdbd4df41b6 100644
--- a/sdks/python/test-suites/dataflow/common.gradle
+++ b/sdks/python/test-suites/dataflow/common.gradle
@@ -671,6 +671,8 @@ project.tasks.register("inferencePostCommitITPy312") {
 // Create cross-language tasks for running tests against Java expansion service(s)
 def gcpProject = project.findProperty('gcpProject') ?: 'apache-beam-testing'
 def gcpRegion = project.findProperty('gcpRegion') ?: 'us-central1'
+// Default to the minimum required Java version (currently bounded by IcebergIO which needs Java 17+)
+def javaHarnessVersion = project.findProperty('testJavaVersion') ?: '17'
 
 project(":sdks:python:test-suites:xlang").ext.xlangTasks.each { taskMetadata ->
     createCrossLanguageUsingJavaExpansionTask(
@@ -682,7 +684,7 @@ project(":sdks:python:test-suites:xlang").ext.xlangTasks.each { taskMetadata ->
         "--project=${gcpProject}",
         "--region=${gcpRegion}",
         "--sdk_container_image=gcr.io/apache-beam-testing/beam-sdk/beam_python${project.ext.pythonVersion}_sdk:latest",
-        "--sdk_harness_container_image_overrides=.*java.*,gcr.io/apache-beam-testing/beam-sdk/beam_java11_sdk:latest"
+        "--sdk_harness_container_image_overrides=.*java.*,gcr.io/apache-beam-testing/beam-sdk/beam_java${javaHarnessVersion}_sdk:latest"
       ],
       pytestOptions: basicPytestOpts,
       additionalDeps: taskMetadata.additionalDeps,