Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned he complained to China’s President Xi Jinping throughout a gathering on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) about a Chinese naval live-fire train off the Australian coast that compelled industrial plane to change course.
The train, held in February, noticed a Chinese flotilla partially circumnavigate Australia in worldwide waters beneath a busy industrial flight path within the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
The mission was broadly considered a show of Chinese navy energy and was amongst a number of points raised in what Mr. Albanese described as a “very constructive meeting.”
“President Xi said that China engaged in exercises, just as Australia engages in exercises,” Mr. Albanese advised reporters, referring to freedom of navigation missions carried out by Australian navy within the disputed South China Sea.
“I said what I said at the time,” Mr. Albanese added. “There was no breach of international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the way that it happened, including the live-fire exercises.”
Mr. Albanese mentioned the Chinese chief didn’t point out U.S. strain on allies to declare positions on a possible conflict over Taiwan.
“I reaffirmed on Taiwan Australia’s position of support for the status quo,” Mr. Albanese mentioned. Australia has a one-China coverage that acknowledges the People’s Republic of China as the only authorized authorities of China and considers Taiwan part of China.
With the tenth anniversary of Australia’s free commerce cope with China falling this yr, each governments have agreed to assessment the pact with an intention to enhance financial relations.
Following the assembly with Mr. Xi, Mr. Albanese met Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress.
At the outset of the leaders’ assembly, Mr. Xi advised Mr. Albanese that searching for frequent floor whereas setting apart variations is according to “the fundamental interests of our two countries and our two peoples.”
Mr. Albanese concurred with Mr. Xi’s comment, saying “That approach has indeed produced very positive benefits for both Australia and for China.”
There had been hypothesis that Mr. Xi would use the assembly to elevate Mr. Albanese’s plan to finish a Chinese firm’s 99-year-lease on the strategically necessary Port of Darwin, which the United States is worried could possibly be used to spy on its navy forces.
Landbridge Industry Australia, a subsidiary of Rizhao-based Shandong Landbridge Group, signed the lease with the Northern Territory authorities in 2015, three years after U.S. Marines started annual rotations by way of Darwin as a part of a U.S. pivot to Asia.
But Mr. Albanese mentioned Mr. Xi didn’t point out the lease, nor did he talk about the broader difficulty of Australia’s overseas funding guidelines that forestall Chinese possession of crucial infrastructure.
Reporters questioned Mr. Albanese about Chinese safety officers’ remedy of Australian journalists who travelled to China with him.
Reporter Stephen Dziedzic mentioned he recording a bit to digicam for Australian TV information in entrance of a Beijing landmark with a digicam crew on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) when he was interrupted by safety guards. The guard advised the group that police could be referred to as. The Australians weren’t permitted to depart.
Another reporter, Anna Henderson, mentioned guards advised journalists to delete their footage. Australian diplomats intervened and TV crews had been permitted to depart.
“China has a different system, obviously, with the media,” Mr. Albanese mentioned.
The state go to is Mr. Albanese’s second go to to China since he was elected Prime Minister in 2022.
Australia, like many international locations within the Asia-Pacific area, is caught between China and the United States. Its economic system is closely depending on exports to China, together with iron ore for the metal business. But it additionally shares America’s considerations about China’s human rights report and its rising navy exercise within the Pacific, together with in waters close to Australia.
Mr. Albanese is in Beijing on the midpoint of a weeklong journey to China that began in Shanghai — China’s industrial capital — the place authorities and enterprise leaders from the 2 international locations mentioned deepening cooperation in tourism and lowering carbon emissions in iron ore mining and metal manufacturing.
From Beijing, he’ll journey to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, the place he mentioned he would deal with rising ties in medical know-how and sports activities.
