Trust but verify: Joe Biden’s warning to Anthony Albanese before the PM’s China trip
Ahead of Anthony Albanese’s visit to China next week, which includes meetings with leader Xi Jinping, Joe Biden has ramped up attacks on the Chinese regime.
Joe Biden has warned Anthony Albanese not to fully trust China and to verify all promises made by Beijing, as he pledged to defend US global strategic dominance and compete with Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party on every level that does not involve conflict.
Ahead of the Prime Minister’s three-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai next week, which includes meetings with Mr Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mr Biden ramped up his attacks on the Chinese regime after Philippine vessels were targeted.
Threatening potential conflict in support of a key regional ally, Mr Biden said: “I want to be very clear: the United States’ defence commitment to The Philippines is iron-clad … any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels, or armed forces will invoke our Mutual Defence Treaty with The Philippines.”
After welcoming Mr Albanese to the White House with a full military parade and 19-gun salute, marking only the fourth time Mr Biden has hosted a world leader for an official state visit, the US President made it clear that the Indo-Pacific region remained his top priority.
In a White House Rose Garden press conference alongside Mr Albanese, Mr Biden provided updates on his personal efforts to avoid wider conflict in the Middle East, repel “Putin’s brutality and aggression” in Ukraine, “guarantee” Israel has what it needs to stop Hamas, and stop Iran from interfering.
Mr Biden on Thursday (AEDT) said his approach to extreme competition with China was “not conflict”. “We’re going to compete with China in every way according to the international rules – economically, politically, and other ways – but not … I’m not looking for conflict,” he said.
Mr Albanese, whose department last week controversially allowed Chinese-owned company Landbridge to continue operating the Port of Darwin, will become the first Australian prime minister to visit China since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was due to arrive in Washington on Friday (AEDT), the same day Mr Albanese heads back to Australia. Mr Wang’s meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is being viewed as a precursor to a meeting between Mr Biden and Mr Xi at next month’s APEC summit in San Francisco.
Asked by The Australian if Australia could trust Beijing as China seeks to repair relations, Mr Biden said “trust but verify”.
“China is having their own internal and external difficulties right now. China’s economic growth is stagnant compared to what it was. China has engaged in activities that Russia and many others have engaged in, in terms of intimidation and dealing with other countries,” Mr Biden said.
“But the fact is that I have met with Xi Jinping more than any other world leader has. I’ve had over 68 hours of private meetings, just he and I with simultaneous interpreters – starting back when I was vice-president. In addition to that 68 hours, I’ve also had another 12, 15 hours of discussions, just he and I.
“And I think that he is realising that there are – for example, his Belt and Road Initiative – well, we’re going to compete on that. And we’re going to (do) it a different way. The Belt and Road Initiative has been a debt and a noose for most of the people who signed on.”
Earlier, when seated next to Mr Albanese in the Oval Office for one-on-one discussions, Mr Biden had revealed to reporters unprompted that Mr Xi had once asked him why the US was “working so hard” with Australia.
“I said, ‘Because we’re a Pacific nation.’ He looked at me, and I said, ‘Yeah, we’re a Pacific nation – the United States.’ We are, and we’re going to stay that way.”
Mr Albanese said “we have strategic competition in our region … that’s a fact that we are living with”.
“It is in Australia’s interest, as well as China but, I believe, in the global interest for us to have a relationship where there is dialogue. And hence I welcome the fact that I have been invited to China,” Mr Albanese said.
“We want a peaceful and secure region, but we want one as well that’s based upon the rule of law and where national sovereignty, including issues such as the South China Sea and the right of passage in that important waterway there – the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait – is respected. And that is Australia’s position.”
In the leaders’ statement released on Thursday (AEDT), Mr Biden and Mr Albanese agreed to a raft of new economic and defence measures designed to shore up their influence in the Pacific and counter Beijing’s foreign interference operations.
Along with Quad partner Japan, the US and Australia will upgrade a trilateral defence pact to accelerate “interoperability and accelerate technology transfer in the rapidly emerging field of collaborative combat aircraft and autonomy”.
A slew of subsidies for Pacific Island nations were also announced, mostly revolving around internet connectivity, the laying of undersea cables, and access to banking services for the far-flung, often tiny set of island nations that China has tried to peel away from the Western orbit.
Innovation and cybersecurity featured prominently in the statement alongside plans to boost co-operation in space technology, including “a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) that provides the legal and technical framework for US commercial space launch vehicles to launch from Australia”.
Fearing wider conflict in the Middle East, Mr Biden said he had spoken with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, King Abdullah of Jordan and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about coming together to forge a positive future in the region.
Mr Biden said he was “alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank (and) pouring gasoline on the fire”.
“This was a deal, and they’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be. It has to stop that have to be held accountable, it has to stop now.”
The 80-year-old declared that he had “no confidence in the numbers that the Palestinians are using” and stressed that “Israel has the right and, I would add, responsibility to respond to the slaughter of their people”.
“We will ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself against these terrorists. That’s a guarantee,” he added.
Mr Albanese confirmed he was yet to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite having requested a discussion.
“We understand that, obviously, Mr Netanyahu has pressures on which at the top of the list is not the discussion with the Australian Prime Minister,” Mr Albanese said.
This is despite Mr Netanyahu either meeting or speaking to dozens of world leaders since the Hamas attack, including face-to-face talks with Mr Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Israeli Prime Minister has also spoken on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Albanese will sign the Technology Safeguards Agreement on Friday (AEDT) at the US Department of State, where he will deliver a major speech in front of Vice-President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
On his final day in Washington, Mr Albanese will meet with Senate leaders Charles Schumer and Mitch McConnell and attend a reception for congress members hosted by the Friends of Australia Congressional Caucus to promote support for key enabling legislation for the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.
He will also visit the US Federal Emergency Management Agency before flying out of Joint Base Andrews and returning to Australia on Saturday.
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