‘An element of trust’: Inside Xi and Albanese’s warm, funny private lunch in Beijing

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has feted a rare intimate lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a moment of “trust” in an ambitious new phase in relations, after years of Australia pursuing a more limited policy of stabilisation.

Revealing details of the event for the first time, the prime minister also used an interview to shift his gaze to the domestic agenda, with Labor to pursue pre-election pledges to wipe 20 per cent off student debt and enshrine penalty rates in law, and rush through new laws to boost childcare centre safety after shock allegations of child abuse in Melbourne and Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday. The pair had a private lunch afterwards.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

However, the prime minister said he would not seek to pass a contentious super tax hike in the first fortnight of parliamentary sessions of the 48th parliament.

Instead, Labor’s 17 new MPs will deliver their maiden speeches, led by Ali France and Sarah Witty, who respectively toppled former Coalition leader Peter Dutton and ex-Greens leader Adam Bandt.

Albanese demanded the Coalition get out of the way of his agenda after it described his week of high-level talks in China as “indulgent” and a “working holiday”.

In an interview on his flight back to Australia, the prime minister provided details about a private banquet that Xi organised after the pair’s formal bilateral talks. Until now, he had not spoken at length about the private meal, which analysts have said was a treat few foreign leaders were handed when they travelled to Beijing.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, visit the Great Wall of China on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“He was very personal. It was a very personal discussion,” Albanese said of the lunch in Beijing’s Great Hall on Tuesday.

“We got to know each other a lot more; a lot more about our backgrounds, our upbringing, our views, a lot more about everything … There was humour.

“That shows an element of trust, as well, to open up in that way.”

Facing the challenge of balancing Australia’s relations between Beijing and Australia’s chief security partner in Washington, the Labor leader declined to use the word “trust” when pressed on his relationship with China’s autocratic leader in a press conference last week.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison warned in The Australian on Saturday that Xi was flattering Albanese to subtly coerce Labor into accepting China’s plans for hegemony in the Indo-Pacific.

Albanese said the “unusual” private lunch was significant, and he agreed “absolutely” with the proposition that Labor was edging beyond the more cautious era of stabilisation that came after years of feuding between China and Australia.

“We’re adding layers to it … How does further development in the relationship occur?”

Xi is not known for his warmth in bilateral meetings. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd told the ABC in 2021 that he did not hear a sidesplitting joke in his hours of talks with Xi. Former Trump administration secretary of state Mike Pompeo once described Xi as “dour”.

Anthony Albanese walked a fine line in Beijing.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“Of the dozens of world leaders I met, he was among the most unpleasant,” Pompeo wrote in 2023.

In a sign of tighter ties with Beijing, Albanese said Australia was supporting China’s hosting of the APEC summit next year. It is expected that Australia will unveil additional outcomes from the China trip in coming months on top of those dealing with trade and tourism already announced.

The six-day China visit – a relatively long period for a prime minister to stay in one country – created momentum for green steel to fortify Australia’s iron ore riches. The countries also agreed to trade Chinese jujubes and mainland Australian apples, but absent was any headline-grabbing major agreement.

China’s charm offensive for Albanese came at a time when the rising Asian powerhouse is trying to bolster ties with nations scorned by Donald Trump’s trade war and treatment of traditional allies.

Albanese raised his objections to how China conducted a controversial live-fire drill off Australia’s coast in February but he and his ministers have been keen to de-emphasise Australia’s points of disagreement with China. Labor remains committed to AUKUS and taking the Port of Darwin out of Chinese ownership.

The Coalition’s response to his visit was “immature” and broke longstanding convention of not attacking a prime minister on overseas visits, Albanese told this masthead.

Shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien repeated the criticisms on Sunday, saying Albanese was weak on China’s military assertiveness.

“Given it was a six-day [visit], I think it’s fair for the Australian people to have expected more,” he said on Sky News.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley with her Liberal Party deputy leader, Ted O’Brien.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I’ve got no problem with him visiting China. In fact, I think it’s important. China is clearly a very important trading partner of Australia … but I think he was particularly weak on issues of security.

“Australia can always be assertive without being rude. Language counts.”

The coming parliamentary week is truncated by formalities for the opening of a new term on Tuesday. The first sitting day and question time is Wednesday.

Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators spent Sunday afternoon chanting anti-Israel slogans outside Parliament House and were expected to remain in the capital for days.

After national attention was gripped by a Melbourne man’s alleged abuse in childcare centres, Labor plans to push through an existing bill allowing the federal government to cut funding for centres on safety grounds.

The bill, which the Coalition is expected to support, also allows inspectors to enter facilities without a warrant. Other mooted reforms such as CCTV and a national register of workers are likely to be discussed at a meeting of education ministers in coming weeks.

The Coalition has signalled it would back Labor’s 20 per cent student loan cut, despite opposing the measure last term.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.