The opposition leader in Australia said yesterday its relationship with China will remain difficult even if his center-left Labor Party wins power at elections for the first time in almost a decade.
Anthony Albanese addressed the National Press Club in what is regarded as an unofficial launch of campaigning ahead of elections due by May.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will address the club next week.
Albanese suggested Australia’s policy toward a more belligerent China would not divide the parties during the campaign.
“Whoever’s in government, it will be a difficult relationship,” Albanese said. “It will be difficult because the posture of China has changed. It is China that has changed, not Australia that has changed.”
“I don’t … blame the government and never have for the current circumstances,” Albanese added.
Morrison is the third prime minister of the conservative coalition since 2013 when Albanese was the deputy prime minister of a Labor government that was voted out of office.
The first conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping during a Canberra visit in 2014 that marked a high point in bilateral relations.
