Albanese, Xi declare trade will go on despite global chaos of Trump’s tariffs

Beijing: Australia will keep its vital trading relationship with China separate from its ties to the US, Anthony Albanese has declared, after he took his government’s concern with how little notice it received of a live-firing exercise in the Tasman Sea in February to President Xi Jinping in a meeting on Tuesday.

A flotilla of Chinese navy ships circumnavigated Australia in February and used live ammunition in a drill that forced flights between Sydney and New Zealand to divert at short notice in an incident that complied with international law but Canberra saw as provocative.

Speaking to reporters on a day when security guards confronted Australian reporters, and photographers, including from this masthead, were denied entry to capture Albanese and Xi shaking hands, the Prime Minister said the trade relationships Australia had with China and the US were unrelated.

“Our relationship with China is very separate from that,” Albanese said. “China as our major trading partner, the destination for more than one in four of our export dollars comes here. The trade with the United States is important, but it’s less than 5 per cent.”

Later on Tuesday Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang signed several memoranda of understanding, including one to review the China-Australia free trade agreement that the countries inked in 2015.

Another commits the countries to improve tourism, which was snarled in pandemic border closures and tensions between the two countries, while a third relates to food.

Xi appears to have brushed off Albanese’s concern about China’s live-fire exercises. “President Xi said that China was engaged in exercises just as Australia engages in exercises,” Albanese said.

“There was no breach of international law by China. But ... we were concerned about the notice and the ways that it happened, including the live fire exercises.”

Albanese raised Australia’s concerns, but Xi was silent on the future of the Port of Darwin, a strategically located asset leased to a Chinese company in 2015 that the Albanese government has vowed to put into new hands via a forced sale if necessary, despite suggestions China could retaliate.

In formal remarks, Xi said China’s relationship with Australia had improved. His government had imposed a series of trade strikes on Australian goods, including beef and barley, after the Morrison government criticised China’s handling of the pandemic.

“With joint efforts from both sides, the China-Australia relationship has risen from the setback and turned around, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese and Australian peoples,” Xi said. In an implied reference to the Trump administration, Xi said that: “No matter [how] the international landscape may evolve, we should uphold this overall direction unswervingly.”

As well as a formal meeting, Xi and Albanese also had a lengthy and more private discussion. State media outlet China Daily hailed the prime minister’s visit on the day, saying its unusual length showed “Australia’s commitment to deepening ties and fostering stability amid the uncertain global landscape”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, right, speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The prime minister said he was “guided by Australia’s national interests” in the discussion with Xi, including encouraging trade with China amid the threat of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, voicing Australia’s position on Taiwan and raising the plight of detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun.

Yang has been imprisoned in China for more than seven years and is serving a suspended death sentence for undisclosed espionage charges.

Albanese said his government had a strong record in freeing detained Australians, including members of the Bali Nine and journalist Cheng Lei, but did not expect an immediate outcome for Yang.

“Patient, calibrated advocacy,” he said. “That is what Australians do. That’s what my government does. And I point to my government’s record when it comes to these issues.”

Albanese reiterated his stance of free and fair trade in the global economy, and said Xi also spoke about the importance of international trade, but the prime minister did not speak on any private conversations about US trade policy between the leaders.

“We have strategic competition in the region, but we continue to engage in order to support peace and security in the region and stability in the region,” Albanese said.

Xi did not raise the question of whether Australia would join the US in a conflict over Taiwan, which has become a major point of tension as Pentagon official Elbridge Colby reviews the AUKUS pact to see if it aligns with Trump’s America-first agenda.

Later in the day, Albanese met with premier Li for the Annual Leaders Meeting, where the pair inspected troops before heading into the formal dialogue. Albanese invited Li to come to Australia next year.

The prime minister will head to Chengdu tomorrow and is expected to visit the Great Wall, as former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam did in the 1970s.

Hours before Xi greeted Albanese with a smile in the Great Hall of the People, local security officials had briefly blocked a group of Australian television journalists from getting on their bus and told them to hand over their footage for viewing by police after the film crews recorded news reports.

The reporters from ABC, SBS, Sky News and Nine and Seven had travelled from the Australian delegation’s hotel to the Drum Tower, a historic landmark, to film with written permission and an escort from officials with the Australian embassy. But local security guards stopped the journalists and asked if they were allowed to film.

According to SBS News and footage recorded at the site by the ABC, about eight Chinese security officials surrounded the group and said they would need to hand over footage until police arrived.

The press group was encircled as they attempted to get onto their bus, but Australian officials eventually settled the matter, and the reporters departed.

The encounter stood in contrast to the formal events, where Xi praised Albanese for fostering stronger ties. Yet even in the formal meeting, Chinese officials would not allow a photographer from this masthead to capture the handshake between the two leaders.

The incident in Beijing had similarities to a moment in June last year when Chinese officials tried to block the view of previously detained Australian news anchor Cheng Lei during an event at Parliament House in Canberra.

She was seated with other reporters at a press conference marking a signing ceremony with Li.

But Chinese officials stood around her so that she would not be in view of cameras beaming vision back to China. The Australian government labelled the manoeuvre hamfisted and counterproductive. Australian and Chinese officials have not commented on the incident while in Beijing.

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