Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting ‘will help avoid real conflict’, says Anthony Albanese

The PM, in the US for APEC, said he would use his trip to discuss ‘a way forward’ to the unfolding conflict in the Middle East.

US Acting Chief of Protocol Ethan Rosenzweig greets Anthony Albanese as he arrives at an APEC reception at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Anthony Albanese has hailed the first face-to-face meeting in a year between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping as central to reducing tensions across the Pacific, arguing the resumption of military dialogue between Beijing and Washington would help avoid “real conflict”.

The Prime Minister also said he would talk with the US at the APEC summit in San Francisco about a “way forward” to the unfolding hostilities in the Middle East and “what happens in the ­future” as he declared Hamas was not a “partner for peace” in any political settlement.

Touching down in the US on Thursday while Mr Biden and Mr Xi were meeting at a California estate to discuss a host of issues ranging from Taiwan to fentanyl trafficking, Mr Albanese said that communication was “always positive” and would enhance understanding between the world’s two major powers.

But after four hours of talks aimed at developing a new foundation for relations at a time of rising instability, Mr Biden ended his press conference by doubling down on his previous description of Mr Xi as a “dictator”, while the Chinese government described reunification with Taiwan as “unstoppable” and called on the US to stop arming the democracy.

“Well, he is. He is a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that’s a communist country,” Mr Biden said.

The attempted reset of US and Chinese relations saw Mr Biden and Mr Xi make modest agreements to resume routine communications between their mili­taries, discuss the risks of artificial intelligence, and crack down on the illicit export of chemicals used to make fentanyl – an opioid that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

“The United States will continue to compete vigorously with the PRC (People’s Republic of China) but we’ll manage that competition responsibly so it doesn’t veer into conflict or accidental conflict,” Mr Biden said. “Where it’s possible, where our interests coincide, we’re going to work together.”

Mr Albanese will on Friday promote Labor’s upgraded climate targets, telling the Asia-­Pacific Economic Co-operation summit members there is “no greater challenge” than tackling climate change, while promoting Australia’s potential to “help drive the world’s transition to net zero” through its abundance of critical minerals.

He will also meet with a host of political leaders and business figures including California Governor Gavin Newsom, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Thai Prime Minister Strettha Thavisin, PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

After meeting with Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella on the sidelines of APEC, where he announced a six-month trial of ­artificial intelligence in the Australian Public Service, Mr Albanese said the Biden/Xi meeting was an “important step forward”.

He talked up the need for “guardrails” to be implemented by both sides to reduce the possibility of conflict. Linking the current era of US and Chinese competition in 2023 to the relationship between America and the Soviet Union during the Cold War years, Mr Albanese said it was imperative conflicts were not allowed to get out of control.

“We need to put in place those mechanisms that are important guardrails that were in place when the two world superpowers were the United States and the Soviet Union,” he said. “We need guardrails to make sure that we don’t have misunderstandings or miscalculations that could lead to real issues and real conflict. We need to make sure we put in place things that ensure that can’t occur.

“As President Biden has said, it is crucial that strategic competition does not veer into conflict. And that’s what guardrails are about. I welcome the meeting … in itself, it is a very important step forward.”

Beijing views the Taiwan question as the most sensitive issue in its relations with Washington, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying posting on social media that the US should “take real actions to honour its commitment of not supporting ‘Taiwan independence’, stop arming Taiwan and support China’s peaceful reunification”.

“China will realise reunification, and this is unstoppable,” she said.

Before attending the APEC welcome reception at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, Mr Albanese said that he expected the advancing Israeli military campaign in Gaza to be discussed during the summit, and reaffirmed the government’s consistent view that Israel had a right to defend ­itself.

“We have said very clearly that Israel has a right to defend itself,” he said. “But how it defends itself matters as well. And we do need to, I think, begin to have discussions about what happens in the future in that region, in Gaza. We know that Hamas is not a potential partner for peace because of their own position. So we need to have those discussions and, clearly, the international community will have a role to play.”

Following a political row in Australia over Mr Albanese’s decision to attend the APEC summit, the Prime Minister again defended his decision to leave the country amid a debate over rising anti-Semitism and the release of non-citizens with criminal back­grounds from indefinite detention.

“At a time of global uncertainty it is important that I’m here at APEC,” he said.

“One in four Australian jobs depends upon our trade. And an enormous proportion of that trade is represented here at APEC.”

The Australian Public Service experiment in artificial intelligence will run from January to June 2024, with Mr Albanese saying it would involve a six-month trial of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The trial is aimed at improving productivity and service delivery across all departments.

It comes on the heels of the ­recently announced move by Microsoft to invest $5bn in Australia which involves the opening of a new data centre academy and a commitment to train an additional 300,000 Australians.