Albanese complains to Xi about Chinese live-fire exercises

Australian PM Anthony Albanese (right) talks to President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, yesterday

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he complained to President Xi Jinping during a meeting yesterday about a Chinese naval live-fire exercise off the Australian coast that forced commercial aircraft to change course.

The exercise, held in February, saw a Chinese flotilla partially circumnavigate Australia in international waters beneath a busy commercial flight path in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

The mission was widely regarded as a display å≈ Chinese military strength and was among several issues raised in what Albanese described as a “very constructive meeting.”

“President Xi said that China engaged in exercises, just as Australia engages in exercises,” Albanese told reporters, referring to freedom of navigation missions conducted by Australian military in the disputed South China Sea.

“I said what I said at the time,” Albanese added. “There was no breach of international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the way that it happened, including the live-fire exercises,”

Chinese leader doesn’t raise Taiwan issue

Albanese said Xi did not mention U.S. pressure on allies to declare positions on a potential war over Taiwan.

“I reaffirmed on Taiwan Australia’s position of support for the status quo,” Albanese said. Australia has a one-China policy that recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and considers Taiwan a part of China.

With the 10th anniversary of Australia’s free trade deal with China falling this year, both governments have agreed to review the pact with an aim to improve economic relations.

Following the meeting with Xi, Albanese met Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress.

At the outset of the leaders’ meeting, Xi told Albanese that seeking common ground while setting aside differences is in line with “the fundamental interests of our two countries and our two peoples.”

Albanese concurred with Xi’s remark, saying “That approach has indeed produced very positive benefits for both Australia and for China.”

Xi doesn’t raise foreign investment rules

There had been speculation that Xi would use the meeting to raise Albanese’s plan to end a Chinese company’s 99-year-lease on the strategically important Port of Darwin, which the United States is concerned could be used to spy on its military forces.

Landbridge Industry Australia, a subsidiary of Rizhao-based Shandong Landbridge Group, signed the lease with the Northern Territory government in 2015, three years after U.S. Marines began annual rotations through Darwin as part of a U.S. pivot to Asia.

But Albanese said Xi did not mention the lease, nor did he discuss the broader issue of Australia’s foreign investment rules that prevent Chinese ownership of critical infrastructure.

Reporters questioned Albanese about Chinese security officials’ treatment of Australian journalists who traveled to China with him.

Reporter Stephen Dziedzic said he recording a piece to camera for Australian TV news in front of a Beijing landmark with a camera crew yesterday when he was interrupted by security guards. The guard told the group that police would be called. The Australians were not permitted to leave.

Another reporter, Anna Henderson, said guards told journalists to delete their footage. Australian diplomats intervened and TV crews were permitted to leave.

“China has a different system, obviously, with the media,” Albanese said.

Albanese’s makes his second visit to China

The state visit is Albanese’s second visit to China since he was elected prime minister in 2022.

Australia, like many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is caught between China and the United States. Its economy is heavily dependent on exports to China, including iron ore for the steel industry. But it also shares America’s concerns about China’s human rights record and its growing military activity in the Pacific, including in waters near Australia.

Albanese is in Beijing at the midpoint of a weeklong trip to China that started in Shanghai — China’s commercial capital — where government and business leaders from the two countries discussed deepening cooperation in tourism and reducing carbon emissions in iron ore mining and steel production.

From Beijing, he will travel to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where he said he would focus on growing ties in medical technology and sports. KEN MORITSUGU & ROD McGUIRK, BEIJING, MDT/AP