Australia’s left-wing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese found it hard to contain his excitement Monday ahead of a personal meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Albanese is on a four-day visit to the Communist state, splitting his time between Shanghai and Beijing, in the first such visit by an Australian leader in seven years.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader said the occasion was “a historic time for me” coming on the 50th anniversary of another left-wing Australian PM Gough Whitlam being the first Australian prime minister to officially visit China.
Albanese is being accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, who met China’s foreign minister on Monday afternoon in the capital while Albanese readied for his Xi talks.
File/Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong is accompanying PM Anthony Albanese to China for high level meetings of her own with the Communist leadership. (LEON LORD/AFP via Getty Images)
Albanese retraced history on Monday with a private tour of the Temple of Heaven – one of the first stops for Whitlam on his official visit to Beijing in 1973, the Daily Mail reports.
‘The progress we have made in advancing our relationship (since meeting Mr Xi a year ago) has been unquestionably very positive,’ Albanese said.
‘I believe that we can all benefit from the greater understanding that comes from high level dialogue and people to people links and that a strong relationship between our two countries will be beneficial into the future.
‘Where differences arise, it’s important that we have communication.’
The comments come after Albanese was cautioned about relations with China by U.S. President Joe Biden while in Washington for a state visit.
Biden warned Albanese against fully trusting China as he pledged to stick by Australia because both countries were Pacific nations, invoking former president Ronald Reagan’s attitude towards the Soviet Union.
History shows that appeasement is the road to ruin against dictatorships like the one that rules single-party Communist China.
“Trust but verify, is the phrase,” Biden said, the Australian Financial Review reports.
China’s Premier Li Qiang (L) and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warmly exchange greetings during the opening ceremony of the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on November 5, 2023. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
“China is having their own internal and external difficulties right now. China’s economic growth is stagnant compared to what it was. China has engaged in activities, that Russia and many others have engaged in, in terms of intimidation and dealing with other countries.
“The Belt and Road Initiative has ended as a debt … [a] noose for most of the people signed on.”