Australia's Albanese, China's Li hold talks on trade, rights
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[June 17, 2024]
By Kirsty Needham
CANBERRA (Reuters) -Australia and China will take steps to improve
military communication to avoid incidents, Prime Minister Anthony
Albanese said after meeting Premier Li Qiang on Monday, in the first
visit to the country by a Chinese premier in seven years.
The visit by Li, China's top-ranked official after President Xi Jinping,
marks a stabilization in relations between the U.S. security ally and
the world's second-biggest economy, after a frosty period of Beijing
blocking $20 billion in Australian exports and friction over defense
encounters.
"One of the very practical measures that we spoke about was improving
military to military communication so as to avoid incidents," Albanese
told reporters in Canberra after the meeting.
In an incident last month, a Chinese airforce jet dropped flares near an
Australian defense helicopter in international airspace over the Yellow
Sea, which Australia said was a dangerous encounter.
It was the second defense incident in six months to mar growing
rapprochement between the two countries after years of strained
relations.
Albanese told reporters he had "raised our issues in the Pacific", a
reference to Canberra's concern over Beijing's growing security
ambitions in nearby Pacific Islands, as well as the case of China-born
Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who was handed a suspended death
sentence by a Beijing court.
Beginning with some panda and wine diplomacy on Sunday, Li is on a
four-day visit.
"This dialogue has allowed us to build a deeper awareness of our
respective interests," Albanese said earlier, noting Australia and China
had complementary economies and shared interests in addressing climate
change.
Li told reporters the leaders held a "candid, in-depth and fruitful
meeting and reached a lot of consensus".
The two countries would expand cooperation in energy and mining, and
China would include Australia in its visa waiver program, he added.
"We both stressed the importance of maintaining communication and
coordination to jointly safeguard peace and prosperity in the region and
beyond," he said.
PROTESTERS, SUPPORTERS GATHER
Protesters and supporters gathered on Monday morning on the lawn outside
parliament house in Canberra, where there was a heavy police presence.
Barricades separated Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong and Falun Gong
protesters from a large contingent of pro-China supporters.
Tibetan Tenzin Wougyal, 37, a Canberra resident, said he came to show
Tibet's culture, religion and language are at risk.
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Chinese Premier Li Qiang shakes hands with Australia’s Prime
Minister Anthony Albanese at the Australian Parliament House in
Canberra, Australia June 17, 2024. MICK TSIKAS/Pool via REUTERS
"Australia should be cautious about what it is doing — don't
sacrifice human rights for short-term economic business," he said.
Tan Zhu, 50, said he travelled from Sydney to welcome Li to
Canberra.
"The relationship with Australia has become much better. That's very
positive," he said.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was jailed for three years in
Beijing on national security charges until her release in October,
was among media covering the meeting.
Chinese officials appeared to block her from camera view by standing
in front of her, video footage on several Australian media outlets
showed. "Maybe they didn't want that for the domestic audience,"
Cheng told Sky News Australia, where she is a presenter.
China's embassy did not respond to a request for comment on the
incident. Albanese said he hadn't seen it, but later told reporters
it was "important that people be allowed to participate fully and
that's what should happen in this building or anywhere else in
Australia".
Trade between Australia and China reached A$327 billion ($216
billion) last year as Beijing's trade blocks eased.
On Tuesday the two leaders will hold a business roundtable in the
mining state of Western Australia. Australia is the biggest supplier
of iron ore to China and China has been an investor in Australian
mining projects.
Li's visit raises the issue of whether Australia will continue to
accept high levels of Chinese investment in its critical minerals
sector, as Western security allies push to reduce reliance on
Beijing for the rare earths vital to electric vehicles. Australia
last month blocked several Chinese investors from increasing stakes
in a rare earths miner on national interest grounds.
"It is hoped that the Australian side will provide a fair, just and
non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises," Li
said in comments reported by Xinhua.
($1 = 1.5142 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Lewis Jackson in Sydney and Peter
Hobson in Canberra; additional reporting by Bernard Orr in Beijing.
Editing by Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry and Ros Russell)
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