PM to have fourth Xi Jinping meet as questions loom over Trump chat
Anthony Albanese is set to fly to the Chinese capital Beijing next month to meet with Xi Jinping, NewsWire understands.
The meeting will be the Prime Minister's fourth face-to-face with the president of Australia's main regional rival.
Meanwhile, a time for an in-person meet with Donald Trump remains up the in the air despite calls for him to fly to Washington.
Mr Albanese was scheduled to meet the US President on the sidelines of the G7 last week, but the talks fell through after Mr Trump bailed on the summit due to the conflict in the Middle East.
He was considering attending the NATO Summit in the Netherlands this week but ultimately decided against it.
Mr Albanese argued Australia would be an outlier by sending its national leader, even though his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon has attended.
He defended the decision on Tuesday.
'The president of Korea is not there, the prime minister of Japan is not there,' Mr Albanese told Sky News.
'In terms of the (Indo Pacific Four), three of the four leaders aren't there.
'That was a part of the decision-making process that we made.
'NATO is about NATO – it's about all of the countries that are a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
'Of course, it is appropriate that the Defence Minister attend the meeting.'
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles is attending the summit and could meet Mr Trump.
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