“Our meeting today marks the resumption of the annual meetings between the Chinese prime minister and the Australian prime minister,” Li told reporters.
The Chinese premier, who expressed his desire to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations, also urged journalists to provide “objective and fair reporting” on the two countries.
Beijing blocked the issuance of visas to correspondents of Australian agencies for more than three years.
Li Qiang welcomed the significance of the visit of his “old friend” Albanese, with whom he met four times last year, noting that Chinese social media closely followed the Australian prime minister’s trip and speeches, generating a positive response.
Albanese expressed his gratitude to Li and recalled that this was the third time in a short period of time that they had met, citing previous meetings in Jakarta and New Delhi on the sidelines of international summits.
The Australian leader also paid tribute to former Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who died on October 27, and expressed condolences on his death.
Albanese also highlighted the 50th anniversary of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s visit to China in 1973 and its historic significance, while stressing the need to resume unhindered trade and cooperate on common challenges such as climate change, food security and crossborder crime.
On the other hand, he assured that Australia would continue to resolutely defend its interests and values, but stressed the importance of managing differences judiciously.
The head of the Australian government met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday in a meeting he described as “very positive” and in which both agreed to “improve bilateral relations.”
The Asian country is Australia’s most important trading partner. But bilateral relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years.
In 2018, the previous Australian government banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from the country’s 5G network and in 2020 called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid19 a move that Beijing viewed as politically motivated. Relations have also been hit by disputes over alleged Chinese influence in Australia.
In retaliation, China imposed punitive tariffs on key Australian exports such as barley, beef and wine. Beijing also stopped buying large quantities of raw materials, including coal, from Australia, depriving the country of billions of dollars in revenue.
However, many of the trade restrictions have been gradually lifted since Labor and Albanese returned in May 2022.
Also read: “Success”. Chinese president wants Australia as a “trusted partner”
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