Australian PM Albanese to discuss trade, security in meeting with China's Xi
BEIJING : Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing today, where he said resources trade, energy transition and security tensions would be key topics for discussion.
Albanese is due to meet Xi ahead of an annual leaders' dialogue with Li, and later attend a meeting of business leaders from both countries at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital.
Albanese said yesterday that he looked forward to a 'constructive dialogue' with the Chinese leaders.
Australia, which regards the US as its major security ally, has pursued a China policy of 'cooperate where we can, disagree where we must' under Albanese.
China, meanwhile, is trying to capitalise on US President Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs by presenting itself as a stable and reliable partner.
Chinese officials have expressed interest in expanding a decade-old free trade deal and cooperating in areas like artificial intelligence.
The state-owned China Daily published a glowing opinion piece about Albanese's visit in today's paper and said it showed countries with different political systems could still cooperate.
However, any cooperation is likely to be constrained by long-standing Australian concerns around China's military build-up and the jailing of Australian writer Yang Hengjun.
Beijing has also separately criticised Canberra's increased screening of foreign investment in critical minerals and Albanese's pledge to return a Chinese-leased port to Australian ownership.
Australia's exports to China, its largest trading partner, span agriculture and energy but are dominated by iron ore, and Albanese has travelled with executives from mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue, who met Chinese steel industry officials yesterday, at the start of the six-day visit.
Bran Black, CEO of the Business Council of Australia, said Australia's Bluescope Steel would also be at today's business roundtable, along with China's electric vehicle giant BYD, Chinese banking executives, Baosteel and state-run food group COFCO.
'First and foremost we use fixtures such as this to send a signal that business-to-business engagement should be welcomed and encouraged,' Black told Reuters today.
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