BEIJING (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he complained to China’s President Xi Jinping during a meeting on Tuesday about a Chinese naval live-fire exercise off the Australian coast that forced commercial aircraft to change course.
The exercise, held in February, saw a Chinese flotilla partially circumnavigate Australia in international waters beneath a busy commercial flight path in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
The mission was widely regarded as a display of Chinese military strength and was among several issues raised in what Albanese described as a “very constructive meeting.”
“President Xi said that China engaged in exercises, just as Australia engages in exercises,” Albanese told reporters, referring to freedom of navigation missions conducted by Australian military in the disputed South China Sea.
“There was no breach of international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the way that it happened, including the live-fire exercises,” Albanese added.
Albanese said the Chinese leader did not mention U.S. pressure on allies to declare positions on a potential war over Taiwan.
“I reaffirmed on Taiwan Australia’s position of support for the status quo,” Albanese said. Australia has a one-China policy that recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and considers Taiwan a part of China.
With the 10th anniversary of Australia’s free trade deal with China falling this year, both governments have agreed to review the pact with an aim to improve economic relations.
Following the meeting with Xi, Albanese met Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress.
At the outset of the leaders’ meeting, Xi told Albanese that seeking common ground while setting aside differences is in line with “the fundamental interests of our two countries and our two peoples.”
Albanese concurred with Xi’s remark, saying “That approach has indeed produced very positive benefits for both Australia and for China.”
The state visit is Albanese’s second visit to China since he was first elected prime minister in 2022.
Australia, like many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is caught between China and the United States. Its economy is heavily dependent on exports to China, including iron ore for the steel industry. But it also shares America’s concerns about China’s human rights record and its growing military activity in the Pacific, including in waters near Australia.
Albanese has sought to repair Australia’s relationship with China since his election in 2022.
“One in four of our jobs depends upon trade,” he said at a news conference in Shanghai on Monday. He noted Australia’s efforts to diversify its trade by expanding ties with Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia and Singapore.
Albanese is in Beijing at the midpoint of a weeklong trip to China that started in Shanghai — China’s commercial capital — where government and business leaders from the two countries discussed deepening cooperation in tourism and reducing carbon emissions in iron ore mining and steel production.
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McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia.
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