Chinese President Xi Jinping says relations with Australia have “turned around” as the two countries stress dialogue and seek to stabilise trade in the face of global tensions.
Xi made the remarks as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.
The six-day visit by Albanese – his second as prime minister – aims to boost economic cooperation with Beijing, Australia’s top trading partner.
“No matter how the international landscape may evolve, we should uphold this overall direction unswervingly,” Xi said, acknowledging that China-Australia ties had “risen from the setbacks”.
Relations between Beijing and Canberra have charted a bumpy course over the past decade, a period marked by repeated disagreements over national security and competing interests across the vast Pacific region.
Ties improved in December when China called off a ban on imported Australian rock lobster, removing the final obstacle to ending a damaging trade war waged between the countries from 2017.
Albanese said he welcomed “the opportunity to set out Australia’s views and interests” and stressed that “dialogue” must be at the heart of the ties between the two countries.
“Australia values our relationship with China and will continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner, guided by our national interest,” Albanese, the leader of Australia’s centre-left Labor government, said.
“It’s important we have these direct discussions on issues that matter to us and to the stability and prosperity of our region. As you and I have agreed previously, dialogue needs to be at the centre of our relationship,” he said.
The meeting between the two leaders came as China tries to capitalise on United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs by presenting itself as a stable and reliable partner. Australia, which regards the US as its major security ally, has also pursued a policy on China of “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must” under Albanese.
Chinese officials have expressed interest in expanding a decade-old free trade deal and cooperating in artificial intelligence. Xi said China was willing to “promote further development in the China-Australia relationship”.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, described the meeting as “warm”, noting the “positive tone” Xi and Albanese projected.
“Prime Minister Albanese is really credited for bringing the Beijing-Canberra ties back to stability”, she said.
On Tuesday, the state-owned China Daily newspaper published a glowing opinion piece about Albanese’s visit and said it showed countries with different political systems could still cooperate.
However, any cooperation is likely to be constrained by longstanding Australian concerns about China’s military build-up and the jailing of Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who was sentenced to death in China over allegations of espionage.
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.
Later on Tuesday, Albanese is scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang with trade, the energy transition and security tensions being the key topics for discussions between them.
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