Anthony Albanese arrives in China amid military build-up tensions

Anthony Albanese has arrived in China with fiancee Jodie Haydon, where he will move to open new trade markets, as his top diplomat signals unease with Beijing’s military build up.

Anthony Albanese has touched down in Shanghai ahead of a week long visit to China where he will seek to open up new trade markets for Australia, as his top diplomat signals unease with Beijing’s military build up.

The Prime Minister will spend his first full day in Shanghai where he will sign a memorandum of understanding between Tourism Australia and popular booking website Trip.com to capitalise on the huge economic opportunities in the sector.

Mr Albanese will be under pressure to balance the federal government’s desire to strengthen the trade and tourism relationship with China, while standing up for the nation’s interests in the region amid increased strategic competition.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in Shanghai with Jodie Haydon ahead of a six day trip to China where he will meet with leaders, business chiefs and tourism operators. Picture: Supplied/PMO

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in Shanghai ahead of a six day trip to China where he will meet with leaders, business chiefs and tourism operators. Picture: Supplied/PMO

Ahead of the trip, Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the AEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur where the pair canvassed a range of contentious issues.

Ms Wong used the opportunity to reiterate Australia’s concerns about the circumnavigation of Australia and live fire exercises conducted by the People’s Liberation Army-navy without adequate notice earlier this year.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, with fiancée Jodie Haydon, arrive in China, for a six-day visit. Picture : NewsWire / Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer

She also criticised China’s “unsafe” actions toward the Philippines in the South China Sea and the need to oppose Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine as well as support for stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Ms Wong raised also Australia’s concerns with the welfare of jailed Australian Dr Yang Hengjun, a pro-democracy writer who is serving a life sentence on trumped up espionage charges.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Malaysia. Picture: Supplied/DFAT

She addressed China’s human rights record in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong and urged Beijing to respect Australia’s laws, sovereignty and freedom of expression.

Mr Albanese’s stop in Shanghai on Sunday will also coincide with the release of a new tourism advertisement to attract more Chinese visitors to Australia.

There were 860,000 trips to Australia by visitors from mainland China in the 12 months to March 2024, with the cohort spending more than $9.2 billion while visiting.

Mr Albanese praised the tourism connection between the two countries and expressed his hope it would continue to grow.

“Not only is Australia’s beef, barley, red wine and lobster the best in the world – we’re the best place in the world to come for a holiday,” he said.

“Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost to Australian businesses.”

Senator Michaelia Cash said Mr Albanese must continue to raise issues around China’s military moves. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Coalition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash noted Ms Wong’s comments on Australia’s concerns about China’s military build up in the region, and said Mr Albanese must continue to raise the issues in his leaders meetings next week.

Ms Cash said she also hoped Mr Albanese’s trip would pave the way for more market access into China, particularly in the agriculture sector.

She said having secured a timeline for Australian mainland apples to be exported to China, the next challenge was removing the barriers for blueberry growers wanting to sell into the lucrative Chinese market.

Mr Albanese has vowed to raise the “full range of issues” when he comes face-to-face with China’s leaders, as security experts caution the Prime Minister against treating Australia’s grievances with Beijing as a “box ticking exercise”.

Asked ahead of the trip if he would raise the plight of jailed Australian Dr Yang Hengjun and Australia’s concerns over live fire exercises conducted by Chinese warships in the Tasman Sea, Mr Albanese said he was confident there would be “honest conversations about some of the disagreements that are there” between the two nations.

Anthony Albanese is on a six-day trip to China. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Ms Cash told News Corp said it was “incumbent” on the PM to advocate for the release of Dr Yang, a pro-democracy writer who is serving an “unjust” life sentence on trumped up espionage charges.

Ms Cash said regional stability was also a critical issue for the high level meetings, given China was undertaking a “military build up” in the Indo Pacific and Australia must make it’s opposition to this “clear” at every opportunity.

“The Coalition wants Australia and China to have a good relationship, we see China as an important partner and we seek respectful engagement … but the respect must go both ways.”

Ms Cash said the way Chinese naval ships circumnavigated Australia earlier this year was “not respectful”.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said he was concerned raising issues like Dr Yang’s case had become a “box ticking exercise” where there was little expectation of having any impact.

“The big risk is the whole thing get’s stage managed by Beijing,” he said.

“They want it to be a political celebration for them and an economic extravaganza, they just want the positive politics of having the Australian government in their orbit.”

Mr Albanese is expected to raise the issue of Chinese warships, which this year have been appearing in the Tasman Sea. Picture: AFP

China is second only to New Zealand in terms of total spend and visitor numbers to Australia, with more than 860,000 trips made in the year to March contributing more than $9.2bn to the Australian economy.

“Australia’s economic relationship with China is important, but so are the community links that underpin it and help build on it,” Mr Albanese said.

“Whether that’s our vibrant Australian-Chinese community, Australian footballers in Shanghai or Chinese tourists in Sydney.”

National security expert and former home affairs and defence department secretary Mike Pezzullo said he was concerned Mr Albanese had found the time to travel to China without having rescheduled a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“I’m not joining the conga line of people saying he’s got to get a meeting for immediate transactional reasons about copper or pharmaceuticals or tariffs on beef,” he told Sky News.

“They’re important (but) what the Prime Minister, I think, really needs to focus on is establishing a rapport and a relationship with the President simply because they we are two close security allies, and the biggest questions that confront us both in the region is the future of security in the region.”

Originally published as Anthony Albanese arrives in China amid military build-up tensions