In the upcoming two months, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s landmark trip to China.
It will be the first trip to China by an Australian prime leader since 2016.
After meeting with Xi Jinping in Bali during the G20 summit last year, Mr. Albanese had been widely expected to travel to China this year.
After years of hostility, that encounter was largely regarded as the beginning of the two countries’ relations stabilising.
China recently put devastating trade restrictions on goods from Australia. It happened after the then-Coalition government supported a probe into COVID-19’s genesis.
Following “respectful” and “constructive” discussions with Chinese Premier Li Qiang outside of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta, Mr. Albanese made the news.
He assured the premier, according to reports, that he would accept President Xi’s offer to travel to China “later this year at a mutually agreeable time.”
“The cooperation and engagement between our two countries is always improved when there is a dialogue, when there is discussion, because that is how you get mutual agreement, mutual respect, and advance the interests of both our nations,” he declared.
The Australian prisoners Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei, who recently celebrated three years in custody, were brought up during the discussion, according to the prime minister.
I brought up Cheng Lei’s situation and offered my opinion, which is the opinion I believe Australians have. That Cheung Lei be reunited with her children is something that Australians care deeply about, he told reporters.
Additionally, Mr. Albanese claimed that he had brought up the situations of three Australians who had been “sentenced to death” in China and that Premier Li had “respectfully” heard Australia’s worries.
Former actor Karm Gillespie, who received a death sentence in late 2013 for attempting to smuggle ice into China, is probably one of such cases.
The identity of the other Australians, though, is unclear.
