China ties should not come at ‘expense of the US': Barnaby Joyce
It comes ahead of the Prime Minister's state visit to China next week.
Mr Albanese will meet Xi Jinping for a fourth time since 2022.
Meanwhile, a firm date for a face-to-face with Donald Trump is yet to be set.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said on Monday Mr Albanese was playing a 'very dangerous' game.
'The Prime Minister must have a great hand of cards because he has really got the chips on the table on this one,' the former deputy prime minister told Seven's Sunrise.
'You need to understand the United States is the cornerstone of our defence … it is not going well.
'This is the fourth meeting he has had with the leader of China but that is a totalitarian regime.'
Mr Joyce said he was 'truly concerned' that Mr Albanese has not met the US President, pointing to the Trump administration's snap review of AUKUS.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $325bn in 2023-24.
The Albanese government has negotiated the removal of some $20bn in residual trade barriers from the Australia-China trade war waged under the former Coalition government.
At the same time, it has pumped billions into countering Beijing's influence in the Pacific and committed tens of billions to defence spending.
Asked if it was not good for Australia to 'make friends with China', Mr Joyce said it should 'but not at the expense of the US'.
'You need to understand that we live in the realm of the Western Pacific,' he said.
'If things go pear-shaped, we are in trouble – real trouble.
'If we … have a defence policy that doesn't include the United States, we need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defence.
'We are way, way behind where we need to be.'
China's AI ploy
China has presented itself as a 'natural' partner for Australia amid tensions between Canberra and Washington.
The alliance has been strained by Mr Trump's tariffs and Mr Albanese's resistance to hiking defence spending.
In an opinion piece published on Monday, Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian said China had 'always viewed Australia … from a strategic and long-term perspective'.
'China has been Australia's largest trading partner, largest export destination and the largest source of imports for 16 consecutive years,' Mr Xiao wrote in the Australian Financial Review.
'With a population of more than 1.4 billion, including more than 400 million middle-income earners, China provides a vast and stable consumption market for Australian minerals, wine, beef, lobster and other products.'
Pointing to the 10th anniversary of the China-Australia free trade agreement, he said Beijing was 'willing to review the agreement with a more open attitude'.
Mr Xiao said that included bolstering 'co-operation in traditional areas such as agriculture and mining' but also exploring 'new growth areas in emerging fields like artificial intelligence, healthcare, green energy, and the digital economy'.
China is engaged in an AI race with the US.
The launch of DeepSeek in January dealt the first serious blow to the US' global leadership in the space, with the ensuing tech sell-off wiping about $US1 trillion ($A1.5 trillion) in value off American titan Nvidia.
Mr Xiao also said China wanted to step up co-operation in the Pacific. Albo's scores big with football diplomacy
'Both China and Australia are major countries in the Asia-Pacific region, beneficiaries and defenders of the post-war international order,' he said.
He said China was 'willing to work with Australia to build consensus on international and regional issues'.
That included finding ways to 'jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, uphold international rules and order, advocate for free trade' – a tough task when Australia and its Pacific neighbours view China as the greatest threat.
Originally published as China ties should not come at 'expense of the US', Coalition heavyweight warns
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