Xi to welcome Aussie PM

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will welcome Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Beijing, a high-water mark in their nations' ties following years of tensions that cut billions of dollars in trade.

Beijing is Canberra's biggest trading partner, but relations plummeted in 2020 after Australia's then-conservative government barred Chinese tech giant Huawei from 5G contracts and called for an inquest into the origins of Covid-19.

A furious Beijing then slapped punitive tariffs on a slew of Australian commodities ranging from coal, to barley, to wine as the relationship descended into a deep freeze.

But China has reversed course since Albanese took power in May last year, lifting most of its restrictions on Australian goods and saying it wants "healthy and stable" ties.

Ahead of the talks in Beijing on Monday, Albanese — the first Australian leader to visit China in more than seven years — said he saw "promising signs" that relations were improving and predicted a "constructive discussion" with Xi.

"We've already seen a number of the impediments to trade between our two nations removed," he said.

"China is our most important trading partner," he added.

"It represents more than 25 percent of our exports, and one in four of our jobs relies upon our trade, so it's an important relationship."

But the Australian prime minister has previously acknowledged the need to remain "clear-eyed" about the differences between the two countries and has aired his view that they are not strategically aligned.

"We need to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest," he said Monday.

Beijing has bristled at Australia's security pact with the United States and Britain, and rebuked its decision to purchase nuclear-powered submarines — widely seen as an effort to parry Chinese military might in the Asia-Pacific.

Albanese, for his part, has spoken up on behalf of nations' right to self-determination, as well as human rights and maintaining peace — including in the Taiwan Strait, which separates China from the self-ruled island it regards as part of its own territory.

Albanese has warned that China does not see itself as a power in favor of the "status quo."

WITH AFP