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The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Albanese says Coalition failed to have call with Beijing for years as opposition criticises ‘indulgent' China trip
Anthony Albanese has sniped back at the opposition's criticism of his 'indulgent' six-day visit to China, pointing out the former Coalition government failed to hold a single phone call with the major trading partner for years. The prime minister has spent this week touring the country with stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu amid a period of geopolitical instability and escalating trade hostilities between US and its trading partners. Albanese met with Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang to discuss a number of issues, including trade tensions with the US, the issue of independence for Taiwan and two-way tourism links. But the prime minister scheduled time for visits to popular tourist attractions, including the Great Wall of China and a panda research facility, echoing historical trips by former leaders, Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser. The opposition finance minister, James Paterson, criticised Albanese for the picture-friendly stops, describing them as 'indulgent' and questioning whether the trip had achieved 'tangible outcomes'. 'I have to say that some of this is starting to look a little bit indulgent,' Paterson told Sky News. 'The appropriate time to do a nostalgic history tour of Labor Party mythology, is after you retire, in your own time, at your own expense, not on the taxpayer dime.' While the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she wished him well, she said she was 'disappointed' Albanese didn't receive assurances about the Chinese military's live-fire exercises in international waters between Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. 'What needs to be a strong and respectful relationship, and respect cuts both ways,' Ley said. 'Friendship is important, but it can't come at the cost of our national interest. And Australians expect their prime minister to stand up for that national interest in those conversations that he has with world leaders.' Speaking from Chengdu, Albanese said the opposition should sort 'themselves out' before attacking the Labor government. 'Those pictures go to 27 million people potentially in Australia, they go to over a billion people in China,' he said. 'And those billion people represent people who increasingly are rising up the income ladder and are potential tourists and therefore job creators in Australia. 'If James Paterson doesn't understand that, then he doesn't understand much. And quite frankly, I think the latter applies.' Relations between Australia and China deteriorated in May 2020 under the former Coalition government after the former prime minister Scott Morrison backed an international inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 virus. Australia was hit with trade sanctions on exports to China and frozen out of minister-to-minister dialogues during the two-year period. While trade and diplomatic relations have improved since Albanese was elected, tensions remain on a series of issues, including the imprisonment of Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun, who was given a suspended death sentence in 2024. Following his meeting with Xi on Tuesday, Albanese promised 'patient, calibrated advocacy' on sensitive issues with China. 'President Xi Jinping and I agreed dialogue must be at the centre of our relationship,' Albanese said. 'If you don't have communication, you can have misadventure and misinterpretation.'
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Asian News 7:29 a.m. GMT
Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade BEIJING (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a visit to China this weekend meant to shore up trade relations between the two countries. Albanese met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the first in a series of high-level exchanges that will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People's Congress. Albanese is leading 'a very large business delegation' to China, which speaks to the importance of the economic relations between Australia and China, he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday. During a weeklong trip, Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu including a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his office said.
South China Morning Post
07-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Australia's Albanese to address Darwin Port sale on China visit
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in China next week for his second official visit, he will have more than the typical diplomatic niceties to discuss with President Xi Jinping. Advertisement A major task on Albanese's agenda, besides routine topics like trade, will be to explain his country's stance on Chinese investment – in particular, addressing the controversy over the ownership and potential government-influenced sale of the Darwin the Post has learned from sources with knowledge of the matter. This will make for a difficult conversation, analysts said, as Beijing has been on high alert to future divestments following US action over Chinese-owned ports at the Panama Canal. Albanese will arrive in Beijing around July 15, one source said, as a 'friendly gesture' to keep relations on a positive track. Another source said the prime minister will attend the China International Supply Chain Expo , an event held in the country's capital annually since 2023. This year's edition will run from July 16 to July 20. Advertisement Australia's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said Albanese's international engagements will be announced in 'the usual way' in reply to a request for comment.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Singapore leader's visit gives China chance to pitch itself as reliable partner for Asean
Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will visit China next week, on a trip that is expected to give Beijing a chance to promote itself as a reliable partner for Southeast Asian countries and defender of multilateralism. China will also be keen to reassure Singapore that the Chinese economy is 'back on track' as it gears up for a trade war with the United States, analysts said. It will be Wong's first trip to China since becoming prime minister in May 2024. The visit follows his People's Action Party's decisive win in the country's general election last month. On Friday the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed the visit would start on Sunday and run until Thursday. It added that Wong was visiting at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang 'China looks forward to using this visit to further enhance strategic communication with Singapore, deepen exchanges and cooperation across various fields, jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade and to advance bilateral relations to greater heights,' foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said trade and economic cooperation were expected to dominate the agenda.
RNZ News
17-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Luxon arrives in China intent on building on positives amid global conflicts
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon arrives in Shanghai after a 20-hour trip from Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Craig McCulloch [b Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has touched down in China early on Wednesday, kicking off his first visit there as prime minister - a trip analysts say will seek to consolidate the relationship rather than reinvigorate it. The RNZAF Boeing 757 arrived in Shanghai at about 3:30am (NZT) after departing Auckland's Whenuapai Airbase more than 20 hours earlier. Luxon will spend roughly two days in Shanghai, touting New Zealand's wares, and one in Beijing, holding high-level meetings with the Chinese administration. To aid him in those goals, the PM has brought with him Tourism Minister Louise Upston, Ethnic Communities Minister Mark Mitchell, and a team of officials and business leaders. Addressing the delegation before departure, Mitchell quipped it was like "getting the old band back together" after a trade mission to India in March. He said the China visit was important right now given the immense global uncertainty. "Probably never seen the amount of conflict that's going on… old alliances that are being challenged a bit," Mitchell said. "Hopefully, touch wood, the 757 gets us up there." Upston said New Zealand had a "long and deep relationship" with China but there was more to be done. "Particularly from a tourism and hospitality perspective, we're kind of lagging - so we've got a bit of serious heavy-lifting to do up there to make sure we can resurrect those very deep relationships and ensure the China market knows we're open for business." The 28-strong business delegation is chaired by Dame Therese Walsh, chair of Air New Zealand and ASB Bank. Among the companies represented are Fonterra, Zespri, A2 Milk, and Silver Fern Farms. Also of note are education providers Te Pūkenga, Victoria University of Wellington, and UP Education, as well as both Auckland and Christchurch airports. Read a comprehensive preview of Luxon's China trip here . Photo: RNZ / Craig McCulloch In a sit-down interview with RNZ before departure, Luxon used a range of adjectives to describe the bilateral relationship: strong, mature, complex, considered, predictable. "It's an important relationship. We're being consistent and steady with it," he said. "We've got a good rapport with the leaders, and there's a lot more for us to build and develop within this relationship." Earlier this month, a group of former political leaders - including Helen Clark, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Sir David Carter, and Don Brash - criticised the coalition's approach to China as being needlessly "adversarial" . But Luxon dismissed the warning as incorrect and "a bit simplistic". "We've been very consistent that where we have differences, we raise them, we do so publicly or privately, we call it out. And that's a sign of a good mature relationship." RNZ asked whether he would directly raise those differences, whether on human rights or militarisation in the Pacific, during his meetings this week with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. "I don't talk about what I'm going to raise in those meetings in advance," Luxon said. "But suffice to say, I've been pretty consistent with how we how we run them." He encouraged RNZ to "maybe listen a little less to former politicians" and said he was "not at all" concerned about a potential relationship breakdown. "It is a more volatile world out there, and New Zealand can navigate those volatilities incredibly well," Luxon said. "Yes, that comes with some challenges from time to time, but I'm very confident we can do that." Contemporary China Research Centre director Jason Young said it was crucial for the government to get its messaging right on this trip: keeping the relationship "sustainable and stable" without raising expectations too much. "Often within China, things can't really sit still. They have to keep moving," Young said. "From a New Zealand end, it's more a question of demonstrating that the relationship is valuable and wanting to maintain the growth within that relationship at a sustainable level." Young, who is an associate professor of international relations at Victoria University of Wellington, said the relationship had become "more strained" given the shifting geo-strategic environment. He said there were plenty of differences that would have to be navigated: the recent Cook Islands deal, China's growing military power, and stability across the Taiwan Strait. "As with any great power - and particularly a great power with a very different political system, a different view of geopolitics and their role in the world - there are always potholes that New Zealand could fall into," Young said. "New Zealand is not immune from the broader geopolitical challenges, and navigating those challenges is going to be one of the hardest things that New Zealand does over the next couple of decades." Professor of political science at the University of Canterbury Anne-Marie Brady told RNZ Luxon would use the visit to highlight positive areas of cooperation to protect the trading relationship. But she expected Luxon would also voice his support for the "multilateral rules-based order" which was under threat from China. "Both President Xi and Premier Li have pleaded with New Zealand to return to the old rubric for NZ-China relations, which was the 'relationship of the first' where New Zealand was going to jump in on every initiative that China launched. "New Zealand doesn't use that language anymore. It uses the relationship of common points and difference."
