PM's China stance hailed by Taiwan despite criticisms
The prime minister held top-level meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, telling President Xi Jinping that Australia continued to support no unilateral change to the status quo regarding Taiwan.
Taiwan's representative in Australia Douglas Hsu embraced Mr Albanese's statement and urged the international community to take stock of China's actions.
"China's actions, from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea and even the Tasman Sea, show a clear pattern of military adventurism and aggression," he told AAP.
"The threat is real and Taiwan urges the world not to ignore it."
Mr Albanese said Mr Xi didn't raise reports the United States had asked Australia and Japan to commit to supporting it in any conflict with China over Taiwan.
Mr Hsu said each nation would make its own sovereign decision on whether to join a regional crisis but Taiwan was focused on strengthening its own defences.
"While we welcome international support from countries like Australia on Taiwan's peace and stability, Taiwan is committed to defending itself through strengthening its own defensive capabilities and resilience," he said.
"We are determined to defend our thriving democracy."
The federal opposition both welcomed the dialogue and trading ties with China but criticised the length of the trip and accused the prime minister of not receiving more ironclad security commitments from Beijing.
Coalition frontbencher James Paterson suggested parts of the prime minister's itinerary - which included visiting pandas - looked 'a little bit indulgent' when there was so much at stake in Australia's international relationships.
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor also called for Australia to have a joint commitment to Taiwanese security with the US.
But his comments were walked back by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley who said the coalition's position on Taiwan remained no unilateral change to the status quo, which is in line with a longstanding bipartisan position.
Coalition frontbenchers also continued to heap pressure on the prime minister to deepen ties with Washington, remaining critical of Mr Albanese for not having met President Donald Trump face-to-face.
A scheduled meeting on the sidelines of June's G7 meeting in Canada was cancelled at the last minute after the president abruptly left the summit to deal with escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.
Australia-China Relations Institute deputy director Wanning Sun said Mr Albanese's visit was pragmatic as Mr Trump's schedule was out of his control but travelling to China for annual leader-level talks to stabilise the relationship with Australia's greatest trading partner wasn't.
Institute researcher Elena Collinson added the prime minister's trip underlined Australia's ability to act in its own interest rather than being tethered to the US despite the trip's timing before a meeting with Mr Trump being "more circumstantial than calculated".
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