Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday hailed a “positive” meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) — the first in-person encounter between leaders of the two countries since 2019.
Albanese, whose Labor government is keen to scrape the ice off of Canberra’s frosty relationship with Beijing, spoke to Li at a gala dinner on Saturday night at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh.
“I had a great conversation with Premier Li. It was very positive and constructive,” Albanese told reporters yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
Ties with Beijing had in recent years hit an all-time low under Australia’s previous conservative government.
China whacked Australia with trade sanctions costing billions of dollars in merchandise and service exports after Canberra called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was the last Australian leader to speak with Li and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in 2019.
Saturday was the first time Li and Albanese met in person, and they discussed the 50-year anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.
“I think it’s a good thing that it happened. I’ve said repeatedly about the relationship with China — that we should cooperate where we can and that dialogue was always a good thing,” Albanese said.
Asked if he thought China was looking to recalibrate its relationship with other countries, he said: “We should cooperate with China where we can and that’s what we’re doing.”
The discussion came amid speculation about a possible meeting between Albanese and Xi at a G20 summit in Indonesia today.
Albanese on Wednesday said that a meeting with Xi would be a positive development after years of tense relations.
Albanese also held a “constructive” 40-minute meeting with US President Joe Biden yesterday. Topics ranging from climate change and regional security to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the AUKUS partnership featured in the talks, he said.
Albanese said that he had invited Biden to address parliament when Australia hosts a meeting next year of leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue regional grouping.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work