Anthony Albanese will soon be the first Australian prime minister in 7 years to visit China
Anthony Albanese will soon become the first Australian prime minister in seven years to visit China in recognition of improving bilateral relations
CANBERRA, Australia — CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Anthony Albanese will become the first Australian prime minister in seven years to visit China in recognition that bilateral relations have improved after crashing to unprecedented depths over trade and security differences that remain largely unresolved.
The 2022 election of Albanese’s center-left government after nine years of conservative rule created an opportunity for a reset. He arrives Saturday on a three-day visit that will take him to Shanghai then Beijing, where he'll meet with President Xi Jinping.
Xi had two meetings in six months with an Australian prime minister in 2016, but China severed top-level ministerial contacts with Australia after that. Official and unofficial trade sanctions stacked up since 2020 to cost Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year for commodities including coal, wine, beef, barley and lobsters.
Many say the trade boycott hurt an economically troubled China while Australia showed no signs of bending to Beijing’s coercion.
“It’s in Australia’s interest to have good relations with China,” Albanese told reporters in October, when he announced the trip.
But Albanese’s government is also deepening security ties with the United States, notably with the AUKUS agreement involving Britain that will provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.
No significant announcements are expected during Albanese’s largely symbolic visit, which comes close to the 50th anniversary of the first trip by an Australian prime minister to the
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