Albanese plans face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping
Anthony Albanese will meet face-to-face with President Xi Jinping, a day after the Chinese leader had a three-hour meeting with US President Joe Biden.
National
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Australia won’t be talking in terms of “red lines” when Anthony Albanese meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping for formal talks that will end a six year diplomatic freeze.
The Prime Minister vowed to represent Australia’s national interest during a face-to-face meeting with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali on Tuesday.
Ahead of his own meeting with Mr Xi, US President Joe Biden said he would be looking to establish “red lines” with the Chinese leader.
After his more than three hour-long meeting with Mr Xi on Monday, Mr Biden told reporters “there need not be a new Cold War” with China if both world powers ensured competition did not lead to conflict.
Mr Biden said he did not believe there was “any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan”.
Since taking office Mr Biden has repeatedly said the US was obliged to protect Taiwan if China attempted to invade.
Mr Biden said he “made it clear” to Mr Xi that the US’ policy in Taiwan “has not changed at all”.
“It’s the same exact position we’ve had,” he said.
“I made it clear that we want to see cross-strait issues peacefully resolved.
“I’m convinced that he understood exactly what I was saying. I understood what he was saying.”
Mr Albanese said he would use his “own language” to describe the meeting, and was going into it with “no preconditions”.
“We need to cooperate with China where we can, and disagree where we must,” he said.
“We’ll act and have dialogue in our national interest.”
Mr Albanese said having the meeting at all was in and of itself a positive outcome for Australia.
“Having the meeting is a successful outcome,” he said.
“For six years we have not had any dialogue, and it is not in Australia’s interest to not have dialogue with our major trading partner.”
At the start of the US-China meeting Mr Biden told Mr Xi their two countries must not allow disagreement and competition to result in conflict.
“We share responsibility … to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever to near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation,” he said.
“I believe this is critical for the sake of our two countries and the international community.”
Mr Xi said the world had “come to a crossroads”.
“Where to go from here … this is a question that is not only on our mind but also on the mind of all countries,” he said.
“The world expects that China and the United States will properly handle the relationship.”
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott, who was in Bali for the B20 business leaders meetings, praised what she described as a “reset” on China and the Indo-Pacific from the Albanese Government.
“The thing I have been most proud of in the last few days is the esteem in which Australia is held,” she said.
Ms Westacott said Australia needed to approach its relationship with a principle of “realism”.
“We’ve obviously had a lot of difficulties in the relationship but you can’t fix those if you don’t have dialogue,” she said.
Mr Albanese said his meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Monday afternoon had been “constructive”.
“I congratulated him on the efforts that Indonesia is making to bring countries together with the common themes of growing together and growing stronger,” he said.
ALBO’S PLAN AHEAD OF XI MEETING
Ending a six-year deep freeze of relations between Australia and China, Anthony Albanese will meet face-to-face with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit.
Arriving in Bali ahead of the summit, the Prime Minister vowed to put Australia’s “position” forward during the bilateral meeting with Mr Xi, which will take place on Tuesday.
Mr Albanese said Australia would enter the talks with “goodwill”.
“There are no preconditions on this discussion,” he said.
“I’ve said since I became the Prime Minister, but before then as well, that dialogue is always a good thing.”
In recent years China has imposed trade sanctions on more than $20 billion worth of Australian produce and resources and become increasingly belligerent in the Indo-Pacific in its pursuit of regional dominance.
Australia’s support for Taiwan, condemnation of the treatment of Uyghur ethnic minority group in Xiangjang, calls for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 and criticism of Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea have increasingly angered the Chinese Government.
Mr Albanese’s brief encounter with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at ASEAN in Cambodia on Saturday night was interpreted a “positive” sign of stabilising relations with China.
Asked about reports Mr Li has said China expected Australia to meet it “halfway” to improve relations after a recent “difficult patch,” Mr Albanese said he would not be compromising on values.
“Australia will put forward our own position,” he said.
“I look forward to having a constructive discussion with President Xi.”
The last time Mr Xi formally met with an Australian leader was in 2016 when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister.
Mr Xi then informally spoke to Scott Morrison in 2019.
US President Joe Biden was due to meet face-to-face with Mr Xi for the first time since both became leaders overnight on Monday.
The grave human toll and economic “chaos” from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine will loom large over the G20, with Australia to play a critical role in supporting summit host Indonesia in its bid to secure a consensus response to the war from world leaders at the meeting.
President Vladimir Putin is not attending the G20, and Mr Albanese said he would seek to avoid any interactions with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the course of the summit.
Mr Albanese said Australia’s “consistent” position was Russia must end its invasion.
“There is a need for Russia to withdraw from this aggressive action that is against international law and that is creating hardship, particularly of course in Ukraine, but it‘s also damaging the international economy and damaging international food security,” he said.
The G20 in Indonesia is the second of three stops on Mr Albanese’s eight-day trip in Southeast Asia for a series of summits and one-on-one talks with world leaders.
Mr Albanese was expected to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday evening, and in the coming days will hold talks with new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Albanese delivered a keynote address at the B20 business leaders summit in Bali on Monday evening, where he urged nations work collaboratively to tackle soaring global inflation.
Several Australian business representatives were at the summit, including Fortescue chairman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox and Business Council of Australia (BCA) chief executive Jennifer Westacott.
The BCA and Indonesia’s peak business group signed a new agreement designed to expand trade and increase economic activity between the two nations.
“By some estimates Indonesia is set to be the world’s fifth largest economy by 2030, so the opportunity for Australia is huge in areas like education, clean energy and agriculture,” Ms Westacott said.
“It’s crucial that businesses form strategic partnerships with Indonesian companies because this economy will be critical as we diversity our supply chains and in particular as we co-operate to decarbonise energy supply chains.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has also travelled to Bali for the summits, and said the “defining issue” in the global economy was the “chaos” in energy markets brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Most people are expecting a pretty bumpy ride in the global economy,” he said.
“It’s a hostile and high-risk environment right now, and so the more we can engage, co-operate, collaborate on some of these big challenges – whether it’s inflation, making sure our budgets are more responsible, are economies more resilient … that’s what these discussions are all about.”
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