Date night for relaxed Anthony Albanese ahead of Xi Jinping meeting
Before a possible showdown over the Port of Darwin, Anthony Albanese was spotted walking with Jodie Haydon en route to dinner. Of course, it hasn’t been all relaxation for the PM in Shanghai.
Before his audience with Xi Jinping and a possible showdown over the Port of Darwin came date night in Shanghai for our Prime Minister.
The Australian bumped into the “handsome boy” himself on a beautiful, humid Sunday evening on Shanghai’s famous Bund, just as the sun was setting on a glorious summer’s day.
Anthony Albanese and his fiancee Jodie Haydon, each radiating relaxed vibes, were on their way to dinner up high at the Grand Hyatt. On Monday, the PM gave his verdict on the meal.
“I can recommend the restaurant,” he informed The Australian. “They did a toffee koala and kangaroo for us there, which was very much appreciated.”
It was of course not all rest and relaxation for our Prime Minister in Shanghai.
On Monday, before flying north to China’s capital, he was hard at work overseeing a roundtable with executives from Australia’s biggest iron ore producers – BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting – and their enormous Chinese state owned buyers.
Perhaps surprisingly, considering the trade is worth more than $100bn a year for Australia and makes up a fifth of our country’s exports to the world, it was the first time an Australian Prime Minister had done such a thing in China.
After the iron ore talk in the five-star Peninsula Hotel (where the Australian entourage were staying), the PM headed around the corner to another five-star joint: the art deco Peace Hotel.
As he told a wider crowd of local and visiting Australian business figures, and many of their Chinese partners, it is a venue with a special place in his heart. “This hotel is an auspicious venue for a Labor leader. It was here, way back in 1971, the year before he became prime minister, that Gough Whitlam marked his 55th birthday,” the PM said, proudly. “It says something about Gough Whitlam … that there was nothing business-as-usual about the decision to visit the People’s Republic of China and to commit the incoming Labor government to the recognition of China.”
After that partisan boast, Mr Albanese used the lunchtime speech to outline, once again, his government’s approach to relations with Mr Xi’s China. The key message was that he will not be adjusting the “stabilisation” formula that his government used throughout its first term.
“One of my government’s priorities has been working hard with counterparts in China to stabilise ties and to build dialogue,” he said.
“We’re guided by a pretty straightforward ethos — co-operate where we can, disagree where we must, but at every step engaging in our national interest.
“It is a policy framework that has enabled us to manage our differences wisely and build on all the areas where we can and should work together in the shared interests of our two nations.”
Before the visit, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian – who was in the audience on Monday as the PM spoke – had again urged Australia to move “beyond stabilisation”.
But the PM made it clear that won’t be happening. He also won’t be changing course to calm the complaints of pockets of Australia’s noisy security commentariat. “There is no fixed model for a stabilised relationship,” he said. That policy framework is going to face its biggest test yet in Beijing during the Prime Minister’s meetings on Tuesday with Mr Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in the Great Hall of the People.
Mr Xiao, has made it clear that Mr Xi’s government is not happy about the PM’s election commitment to end the lease of the Port of Darwin by Chinese company Landbridge.
Ominously, on the eve of the pivotal leader-level meetings in Beijing, a Chinese commentator with links to state media warned of a fresh wave of economic coercion if the PM went through with his election policy.
“The Chinese side has made it clear that it will not accept any unilateral breach of contract, but at the same time it has shown an open and co-operative attitude,” Chinese social media influencer Lu Wenxing wrote in a pointed piece to his half a million social media followers.
“If the Australian side insists on tearing up the lease agreement, the Chinese side may take countermeasures, such as restricting Australian companies’ market access in China or tightening imports of key resources such as iron ore,” Mr Lu, a former editor of Chinese propaganda outlet Voice of the Strait, wrote.
The Prime Minister downplayed the threat when I asked him about it on Monday.
“We have a very clear position that we want the port to go to Australian ownership. We’ve been clear about it. We’ve been orderly about it. And we will go through that process,” Mr Albanese said.
“Governments cannot respond in policy terms to every time there’s an article written or a tweet or a blog and change their position,” he added.
“Good government has a position and advocates for it and implements it. And mine is a good government.”
The Prime Minister is being advised on this trip by a team of Australian officials who have been in the trenches throughout the implosion and then recovery of Australia’s diplomatic relationship with China over the past decade, including Graham Fletcher, the head of international at the PM’s department; Jan Adams, the head of DFAT; and Scott Dewar, Australia’s ambassador in Beijing.
On the Australian side there seems to be a belief that the Albanese government has stored up enough credit with Beijing that they are going to be able to execute on the PM’s Port of Darwin commitment without tanking the trade relationship.
The PM also seems to be of the view that he can pull it off, as evidenced by his sunny demeanour on Shanghai’s Bund.
Mr Xi, of course, gets a vote too on how this plays out.
Is he going to allow a Landbridge divestment to happen in a way the Chinese side can pretend is no big deal, or – after a three-year reprieve – will Australia soon return to China’s diplomatic freezer?
The ball’s in your court, Chairman Xi.
Add your comment to this story
How China’s military is pushing boundaries in the Pacific
The US sounds the alarm and calls on allies to do more as Beijing’s forces aggressively venture further from its shores - pushing well beyond traditional geographical limits.
Iranian President ‘wounded in huge Israeli strike’
Masoud Pezeshkian was reportedly injured as he escaped a bunker in Tehran after Israel dropped six bombs on a National Security Council meeting during the 12-day war.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout