China ties should not come at ‘expense of the US', Coalition heavyweight warns
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.'
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