Beijing: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Chinese President Xi Jinping here on Monday. This announcement was made by China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Albanese, who arrived in Shanghai on November 5, became the first Australian prime minister to visit China since 2016.
In a post on Monday morning, Albanese said: “It is 50 years since Gough Whitlam became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit China. A lot has changed since he visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.”
“But what remains constant is that the connection between our two countries remains vital.”
Whitlam’s iconic visit to China in 1973 to meet Mao Zedong was the first visit by an Australian Prime Minister since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Albanese’s visit aims to ease years of tensions following a series of trade and security disputes between the two countries, the BBC reports.
Ahead of the meeting, the prime minister told reporters in Beijing on Monday, “What I have said is that we should cooperate with China where we must, disagree where we must, and work together in our national interest.” Should be.”
Asked by reporters whether Australia could “trust” China, Mr Albanese said his previous conversations with Mr Xi had been “positive” and “constructive”.
The BBC quoted the prime minister as saying, “But we also recognize that we come from different political systems, with very different values arising from that, and different histories. But we take each other at face value.” But let’s behave.”
