Anthony Albanese met China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday night. Here are five things that came up when the two leaders spoke for the first time on Chinese soil.
1. Yang Hengjun
The prime minister raised the plight of the Australian writer and democracy activist Yang Hengjun. Yang has been detained by China for almost five years. During the diplomatic thaw that played out in the run-up to Monday’s meeting, China released the Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been detained by Chinese authorities for three years. But Yang remains in detention. Albanese told reporters he had raised Yang’s detention with the president. He declined to expand on how Xi responded.
2. The CPTPP trade pact
China has ambitions to join an important regional trade pact, the expanded Trans Pacific Partnership. Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, said last year Beijing had “no prospect” of joining that pact. But things have become more opaque since that point. Xi raised the issue in the discussion with Albanese on Monday but he didn’t ask explicitly for Australia’s support. Albanese points out that China’s ambition to join the pact requires the unanimous support of all its signatories. That’s unlikely because several countries don’t want China included in that deal. But it’s unclear whether Australia might migrate from “no prospect” to supporting China’s bid.
3. Ukraine and the Middle East
A bunch of western countries, including Australia, have appealed to China to use its influence to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Albanese was asked whether he expressed any concern about China’s support of Russia. With Russia’s president Vladimir Putin visiting Beijing last month, Albanese answered carefully. He said “the conflict in the world was raised”. He said the two leaders spoke about Ukraine and about the war in the Middle East. Albanese says he stressed the need for peace and security “in our region”.
4. Lobsters and wine
China removed some of the punitive trade sanctions in the run-up to Monday night’s meeting in Beijing but restrictions remain on lobster exports from Australia, and China hasn’t fully backed off tariffs slapped on wine at the height of the trade war. Xi flagged lobsters during the meeting – raising hopes of a breakthrough – and Australian officials seem confident Australian wine will be heading back to the Chinese market reasonably soon.
5. Leaders dialogue – back on the agenda
Albanese flagged he will be asking China’s premier for a resumption of the annual leaders dialogue that was canned several years ago. The resumption of those conversations looks like a certainty. Albanese invited Xi to visit Australia in the near future. Xi invited Albanese to return to China and visit other parts of the country.
