ANKARA
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that he is willing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at next week’s G-20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, but that no meeting has been scheduled at this stage.
Albanese told reporters in Sydney that his country wants to cooperate where possible, but that he must stand up for Australian values.
“We welcome any dialogue, because out of dialogue comes understanding and mutual respect. So there isn’t a meeting at this stage locked in. But we obviously will be attending the same conferences, or at least two of them over the next nine days. And I would welcome a meeting if it occurs over that time,” he made the remarks as his office posted a transcript of his media briefing on the official website.
Relations between Beijing and Canberra soured after the latter joined its Western allies in calling for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019.
Later, China imposed tariffs of over 200% on Australian wine imports following an anti-dumping investigation.
“We have some $20 billion of economic sanctions against Australia. That is not in Australia’s interest in terms of our jobs and the economy, but it’s also not in China’s interest,” said the Australian prime minister.
He added that these issues could be resolved through dialogue, which would benefit both countries.
“So I’m very hopeful, we’ll continue to put our case that these sanctions are not justified, that they need to be removed. But we will enter any discussions that take place without any preconditions. Dialogue is a good thing if it occurs,” Albanese said.
