Albanese waits in hope of meeting Biden, Xi in Bali

Anthony Albanese is yet to lock in bilateral meetings with Xi Jinping or Joe Biden at the upcoming G20 Summit in Bali.

Anthony Albanese is yet to lock-in bilateral meetings with Xi Jinping or Joe Biden - whose intense rivalry is shaping the Indo-Pacific - at the upcoming G-20 Summit in Bali.

The Australian Prime Minister has been left off the leaders’ published bilateral schedules, but said on Saturday that hoped to have talks with both men in coming days.

Speaking at the ASEAN talks in Cambodia on Saturday, the Prime Minister said it would be “constructive” if he and the Chinese President met face-to-face.

“We are awaiting any finalisation of any meeting. One is not locked in at this point,” Mr Albanese said.

“The nature of these events that meetings get locked down often at the last minute.

I take it at face value. I think there is a great deal of goodwill here, certainly from Australia, and I have no reason to think that there is not goodwill (from China).”

Mr Albanese said there was “no doubt” he would “be having a chat” with President Biden, as he had on the sidelines of recent summits.

“We haven’t locked in a bilateral meeting (with Mr Biden) at this point in time,” he said.

“We await whether that happens or not, but President Biden and I have a relationship. We will be able to have a chat.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Mr Biden would “likely” meet with Mr Albanese but the bilateral was not yet in the US President’s schedule.

Mr Albanese insisted Australia had no preconditions for meeting Mr Xi, but has declared in recent days that China needs to lift its $20bn-a-year trade bans on Australian exports if it wants to normalise relations.

The Prime Minister will come into proximity to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20, who is attending the summit in Vladimir Putin’s place.

Mr Albanese said he would work constructively with G20 leaders, but “but I certainly won’t be seeking out any meetings with the Russian foreign minister”.

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying issued Mr Xi’s schedule of G20 bilateral meetings that did not include Mr Albanese.

The Chinese spokeswoman said Mr Xi would meet “others, upon request”, which may include the Australian Prime Minister.

Ahead of a much-anticipated bilateral meeting between the US and Chinese leaders in Bali, Mr Sullivan said there was “real demand” in the region for the US to be “an important anchor of peace and stability”.

“There is no doubt that the President comes in with a meaningful value proposition to the rest of the region that says, ‘The United States is a resident Pacific power. We played a critical role in the past. We play a critical role today. And we have every intention of doing so in the future.’’

“And there’s a real demand signal for that. I think the PRC may not love that fact, but they certainly acknowledge it and understand it.”