On Saturday, Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with the delegates, began their six days trip in China, meeting with President Xi Jinping and several high-ranking officials.
The two nations have a rough relationship despite having a free trade agreement that is about a decade-old. They both criticized each other when they conducted their military exercise near each other’s territory.
While Australia is concerned about China’s advancing its military, China is not happy with Australia when it increased its security on foreign investment in critical minerals or when Albanese vow to take back the ownership of a port that is under Chinese-leased.
Nonetheless, the two leaders met today and after having a meeting, Albanese stated that both nations will continue to have a dialogue and cooperate in the areas they can find. Meanwhile, Xi stated that China will “promote further development” in their relationship.
Albanese also stated that Australia and China may review its free trade agreement and cooperate on de-carbonisation. As for Xi, he highlights the need to strengthen their strategic mutual trust, form a friendly business environment, and protect multilateralism and free trade.
This meeting happened as China tried to represent itself as a stable and reliable partner while the U.S. President Donald Trump imposed his tariff measures, creating uncertainty across the globe.
