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.
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