Trade Tops Agenda as Albanese Meets Xi: Darwin Port, US Not Mentioned

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese carefully answered questions about his “constructive meeting” with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership in Beijing on July 15.

“My government’s approach to our relationship with China is patient, is calibrated, and is deliberate,” said Albanese, as he repeated his China mantra: “It is aimed at cooperating wherever we can, disagreeing where we must, but engaging in our national interest.”

The prime minister did not put too much emphasis on festering issues in the Canberra-Beijing relationship.

He first spoke of how dialogue with China is important for Australia’s interest, “given that 1 in 4 Australian jobs depends on trade, and given that China is overwhelmingly, by far the largest trading partner that Australia has.”

“President Xi and I agreed that dialogue must be at the centre of our relationship. We also discussed our economic relationship, which is critical to Australia. We spoke about the potential for new engagement in areas such as decarbonisation that was the subject of the forum that was held yesterday.”

National Security Questions Answered

The prime minister answered questions on the CCP’s naval circumnavigation of Australia earlier this year.

“President Xi Jinping said that China engaged in exercises just as Australia engages in exercises … [and] I said what I said at the time: it was within international law, there was no breach of international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the ways that it happened, including the live fire exercises,” the prime minister said.

Asked about the CCP’s strategic or military plans for Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Xi views as a renegade province, Albanese answered that he reaffirmed Australia’s position of support for the status quo.

“We put forward Australia’s position or idea, which is that we want peace and security in the region, that that is in the interests of both Australia and in the interests of China,” he said.

Pressed about the fact that neither Xi nor Albanese raised the issue of Port of Darwin, which was leased to a Chinese company for 99 years, and where the prime minister recently said he wanted to return to Australian hands, the prime minister said he didn’t need to.

“I’ve had the same position for a decade.”

No Mention of US and Trump

Asked how the United States factored into conversations with Xi, Albanese said the focus was on China-Australia ties.

“Our relationship with China is very separate from that,” he said.

“China is our major trading partner, the destination for more than 1 in 4 of our export dollars comes here. The trade with the United States is important, but it’s less than 5 percent,” he said. The U.S.-Australia two-way investment relationship is the biggest, however.

Detained Australian Discussed

Asked about the detailed Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, the prime minister said he raised the case during the meeting, but the public can’t expect an immediate outcome.

“That’s not the way these things work. The way it works is by that patient, calibrated advocacy. 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,” he said.

Pressed about criticism from Yang’s supporters that he had been too soft, Albanese said he would not comment on what the family of a detained individual says.

“That would be inappropriate and insensitive. I understand the pressures that are on people when a loved one has been incarcerated. What we will do, though, is put forward our views in a diplomatic way in order to try to maximise an outcome.”

Australian Journalists Encircled by Chinese Security

Regarding the incident in which Australian journalists were confronted by Chinese security guards at a tourist attraction in Beijing earlier in the day, the prime minister said China has a “different system.”

“I’m here, paying my respect to the media here. That is what I do. China has a different system obviously with the media, but certainly I am here, being accountable, I came straight here, and I’m going straight back,” he said.

The group of journalists from SBS, ABC, Sky News, Channel Nine, and Channel Seven, travelling with the prime minister’s delegation, were surrounded by local security at the Bell and Drum Tower in Beijing’s old city, despite having written permission to film. Security personnel demanded them hand over footage of the site before police arrived.

An Australian diplomat intervened by speaking with local authorities, and the group was eventually able to board the bus and depart.

Morrison Replied to CCP Mouthpiece’s Criticism

Meanwhile, the China Daily, owned by the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department, has been in full praise of Albanese during the visit, drawing comparisons with former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“Albanese’s visit shows that the Australian side has a clearer judgment and understanding of China than it had under the previous Scott Morrison government,” said the English-language editorial.

Morrison, who angered the CCP in 2020 with his push for an inquiry into the origin of COVID-19 responded saying, “Having a character reference from the China Daily was never one of my foreign policy aspirations,” he told The Australian.

.