Chinese premier and Australian prime minister meet at Australia's Parliament House
Li Qiang, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers of both administrations met at Parliament House on Monday to discuss thorny issues, including lingering trade barriers, conflict between their militaries in international waters and China’s desire to invest in critical minerals. Li, China’s most senior leader after President Xu Jinping, arrived in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide on Saturday and the national capital of Canberra late Sunday in the first visit to the country by a Chinese premier in seven years.
Li planned to underscore China’s interest in buying a bigger stake in Australia’s critical minerals sector, which is essential to the global transition to renewable energy sources, by visiting a Chinese-controlled lithium processing plant in Western Australia state Tuesday. Li visited New Zealand before Australia and is scheduled to stop in Malaysia before returning to China.
Bilateral relations have improved markedly since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party was elected in 2022 following nine years of conservative government in Australia. Most of the official and unofficial trade barriers Beijing introduced in 2020 on coal, cotton, wine, barley and wood have been lifted since Albanese was elected.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said before the leaders’ meeting Monday that he would raise the issue of China's ban on Australian rock lobsters and exports from two beef processing plants. “The mere fact that we have the first visit by a Chinese premier, the second-most powerful person in China, ...
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