BEIJING: China is ready to work with Australia to deepen bilateral ties, President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday in Beijing.<\/p>\n
The meeting between the two leaders comes as China tries to capitalize on US President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping trade tariffs by presenting itself as a stable and reliable partner. Chinese officials have expressed interest in expanding a decade-old free trade deal and cooperating in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
China was willing to \u201cpromote further development in the China-Australia relationship,\u201d Xi said in remarks at the start of the meeting.<\/p>\n
Australia valued its ties to China, its largest trading partner, and welcomed \u201cprogress on cooperation\u201d under the free trade deal, Albanese said in response, adding that Australia\u2019s national interest would guide Canberra\u2019s approach to the relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cDialogue needs to be at the center of our relationship,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cI welcome the opportunity to set out Australia\u2019s views and interests and our thinking on how we can maintain peace, security, stability and prosperity in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albanese is expected to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang later on Tuesday. He has previously said resources trade, energy transition and security tensions would be key topics for discussions in Beijing.<\/p>\n
Australia, which regards the United States its major security ally, has pursued a China policy of \u201ccooperate where we can, disagree where we must\u201d under Albanese.<\/p>\n
In the run-up to the visit, China signaled repeatedly it was open to deeper cooperation. On Tuesday, the state-owned China Daily newspaper published a glowing opinion piece about the visit and said it showed countries with different political systems could still cooperate.<\/p>\n
However, any cooperation is likely to be constrained by long-standing Australian concerns around China\u2019s military build-up and the jailing of Australian writer Yang Hengjun.<\/p>\n
Beijing has also separately criticized Canberra\u2019s increased screening of foreign investment in critical minerals and Albanese\u2019s pledge to return a Chinese-leased port to Australian ownership.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s exports to China, its largest trading partner, span agriculture and energy but are dominated by iron ore, and Albanese has traveled with executives from mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue, who met Chinese steel industry officials on Monday, at the start of the six-day visit.<\/p>\n
Bran Black, CEO of the Business Council of Australia, said Australia\u2019s Bluescope Steel would also be at Tuesday\u2019s business roundtable, along with China\u2019s electric vehicle giant BYD, Chinese banking executives, Baosteel and state-run food group COFCO.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost we use fixtures such as this to send a signal that business-to-business engagement should be welcomed and encouraged,\u201d Black said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING: China is ready to work with Australia to deepen bilateral ties, President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday in Beijing. The meeting between the two leaders comes as China tries to capitalize on US President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping trade tariffs by presenting itself as a stable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-490410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n