Australian PM to Visit China This Year

On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that he intends to visit Beijing later this year, following a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta.

This announcement came at a time when Beijing and Canberra were seeking to restore stability to their relations, following two years of tension over political and economic issues.

Albanese confirmed in statements to reporters that he had received an invitation from President Xi Jinping to visit China, stressing that he had accepted it.

This will be the first visit by an Australian Prime Minister to China since 2016.

The Australian prime minister thanked the Chinese side for extending the invitation, praising the constructive and positive discussions with his counterpart.

He stressed the need for the two countries to engage in additional dialogue in order to improve relations.

“This was an important meeting. I told Premier Li that we would continue to cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest,” he said.

Albanese met Xi Jinping in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Several Australian steps have angered China, including legislation against outside influence and preventing Huawei from obtaining contracts to develop the 5G communications network, and calling for an independent investigation into the roots of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China also imposed sanctions on the import of some Australian products.

However, relations have been moving on a different path since the centre-left government took power in Australia last year and adopted a less harsh approach towards China.