Australia complains to China about live-fire exercise as Albanese begins Shanghai tourism mission
Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised Australia's concerns about the heavily armed flotilla that circumnavigated Australia earlier this year in a meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Malaysia on Friday, the government confirmed.
Her expression of disapproval at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a day after she warned of China's rapid military build-up, serves as a reminder of the points of difference with Australia's largest trading partner even after years of calmer relations under Labor.
The emergence of a Chinese flotilla sailing around Australia's east coast in February sparked concern in Canberra about the lack of notice of live-firing, despite the voyage being conducted in accordance with international law.
Flanked by a delegation of Australian captains of industry, the prime minister arrived in Shanghai on Saturday, where he will announce a memorandum of understanding between Tourism Australia and Chinese-owned Trip.com.
The site is the world's largest booking platform and owns Skyscanner and MakeMyTrip. The deal is designed to give Australia a leg-up over other nations in the lucrative Chinese holiday market, which is worth $9.2 billion to Australia.
A new tourism video featuring award-winning Chinese actor Yu Shu, under the banner of Australia's 'Come and Say G'day' campaign, will also be released.
Albanese said Australia's relationship with China went beyond beef, barley, red wine and lobster, all of which were blocked from China after the ruling Chinese Communist Party punished the Morrison government for its blunt criticisms of China's actions particularly during the pandemic.
'Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost to Australian businesses,' Albanese said in a statement marking the start of his six-day visit to China.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
42 minutes ago
- ABC News
Prime Minister begins six-day tour of China
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in China for a six day visit, where he'll meet with President Xi Jinping, and hold talks with China's Premier.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Albanese has a ‘narrow conception' of Australia's interests ahead of meeting with Xi Jinping
Sky News host James Morrow says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's trip to China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping is 'commercially based'. 'Labor and the Albanese government pulling further and further away from the United States and moving closer and closer to China,' Mr Morrow said. 'The excuse that Albanese gives for this is he says, 'I'm acting in Australia's interest', but he has got now such a narrow conception of what Australian interests are that they are entirely commercial and economic, and they have no idea about principle. 'The great failure of this government has been that it has thought that we could shelter under the security umbrella of the United States while still maintaining trade with China.'
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Anthony Albanese has landed in China to strengthen 'economic partnership' as US pushes Australia to outline Taiwan conflict role
The Albanese government hopes Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's latest visit to China will help strengthen economic ties with our largest trading partner while the US is pushing for an end to strategic ambiguity over Taiwan. Prime Minister Albanese arrived in China late on Saturday evening, beginning a six-day-long trip that will include a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Mr Albanese said it was 'wonderful' to be back in China as he spruiked the benefits of improved relations with the Chinese Communist Party ruled stated. 'We know that one in four of Australia's jobs depends on our exports, and China is our major trading partner, with exports to China being worth more in value than the next four countries combined,' the Prime Minister said on arrival. 'This week, we will have important meetings about tourism, about decarbonisation of steel, about the full range of issues.' Speaking on Sky News Australia's Sunday Agenda, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there 'couldn't be a more important time' to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, noting it was 'full of opportunity but not short of complexity either'. 'These meetings between Prime Minister Albanese and President Xi and Premier Li CEOs and businesses from both sides of the relationship are a really important 'It recognises that China is a big part of our prosperity that makes it a big and important, obvious focus of our economic diplomacy, and that's what the Prime Minister's visit is all about. The federal Treasurer said the government wanted to strengthen relations with China because it was 'in the interests of our economy, our workers, our businesses, our investors. 'I think around a third of our exports go to China, so it is a really crucial part of our prosperity and a big focus of our diplomacy,' he said. The Prime Minister's meeting with President Xi will be the fourth since the 2022 federal election. It comes in stark contrast to his failure to schedule a meeting with US President Donald Trump since he returned to office. Mr Albanese arrived in China as the UK's Financial Times revealed a key Pentagon official has been demanding Australia and Japan outline the role they would play if a conflict between the US and China broke out over Taiwan. US under-secretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby, a sceptic of providing Australia with the nuclear submarines, who is currently leading a review into the AUKUS agreement, reportedly been pushing the issue in meetings officials from both countries in recent months. Publicly outlining the role Australia would play would signal an end to the policy of 'strategic ambiguity' both Australia and the United States have towards Taiwan. Mr Colby responded to the reports in a post on X, claiming he was implementing the President's agenda of 'restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength', adding that it included 'urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense'. 'This has been a hallmark of President Trump's strategy - in Asia as in Europe where it has already been tremendously successful,' he said. 'Of course, some among our allies might not welcome frank conversations. But many, now led by NATO after the historic Hague Summit, are seeing the urgent need to step up and are doing so.' 'President Trump has shown the approach and the formula - and we will not be deterred from advancing his agenda.'
