ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. It is very good to be back in Beijing for my second visit as Prime Minister. And this morning, we had a very constructive meeting with President Xi in which we spoke about the range of issues facing our relationship with China. Here, and always, I’m guided by Australia’s national interest. My Government’s approach to our relationship with China is patient, is calibrated and is deliberate. And it is aimed at cooperating wherever we can, disagreeing where we must, but engaging in our national interest. Given that one in four of Australia’s jobs depends upon trade, and given that China is overwhelmingly, by far, the largest trading partner that Australia has, it is very much in the interest of Australian jobs and the Australian economy to have a positive and constructive relationship with China. Dialogue is how we advance our interests, how we manage our differences and how we guard against misunderstanding - and the purpose of my visit here is to advance Australia’s interests. President Xi and I agree that dialogue must be at the centre of our relationship. We also discussed our economic relationship, which is critical to Australia. We spoke about the potential for new engagement in areas such as decarbonisation – that was the subject of the forum that was held yesterday. This afternoon, after this, I will travel back to the centre of Beijing for meetings with Chairman Zhao of the National People’s Congress, for the Annual Leaders’ Meeting with Premier Li, we’ll then have the signing of various MoUs, and then we will have the CEO Roundtable. The fact that senior Australian businesspeople, led by the Business Council of Australia, have come here to Beijing as well as were present in Shanghai and indeed Australian businesses will also be engaged with us in Chengdu, shows how important the economic relationship is and how the Australian business community regard this as an important relationship. We will then have, later this evening, a banquet hosted by Premier Li. But I thank very much President Xi not just for the bilateral meeting that we were able to have, but also hosting a banquet lunch there in the Great Hall of the People, which is an honour which is bestowed on Australia.
JOURNALIST: On the security side, did you seek assurances that Australia would be better informed in future about the PLA’s navy in Australian waters? And has China asserted its right to free navigation in those waters?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes to the former. And secondly, in response of course, President Xi said that China engaged in exercises just as Australia engages in exercises.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Minister. Can I just clarify on that answer that you specifically sought that the notification was really the issue that Australia had had earlier in the year, and can I also ask if discussions were had around the case of jailed Australian, Dr Yang Hengjun?
PRIME MINISTER: On the latter, yes. And on the former issue, I said what I said at the time, which was that it was within international law, 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.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve spoken a lot about the importance of increasing dialogue, building engagement between businesses. What tangible outcomes are you looking for, for example with the Free Trade Agreement, with these talks?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you’ll see some outcomes this afternoon. I will travel back immediately after this for the Leaders’ Meeting with Premier Li. But already what you’ve seen is a range of business-to-business relationships, if you like, coming forward. Some of those have been written about already. On the Free Trade Agreement, one of the provisions, not unusually, in the ChAFTA - the Chinese Australia Free Trade Agreement that was signed by the former government ten years ago in 2015, following the Comprehensive Partnership that was signed also by the Abbott Government – was there was a clause in there for a review. That will happen, because the ten years has kicked in. So we’ll engage in that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your Government’s made clear its concern about China’s unexplained military build-up. Did you seek clarity on China’s strategic or military intent? And did you seek any clarity or did you gain any insight into China’s plans for reunification with Taiwan?
PRIME MINISTER: I reaffirmed, on Taiwan, Australia’s position of support for the status quo -
JOURNALIST: On the military build-up, what its purpose is, what China’s strategic and military aims are?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you would be surprised if that was brought forward. I’m not sure what you’re getting at or what you’re suggesting might have been raised. I’m not sure of the context.
JOURNALIST: Well, your Government’s raised concerns around the military build-up and the lack of clarity around what it might be used for. Do you feel confident that China is a force for peace in the region after this meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we did was we put forward Australia’s position – or, I did – which is that we want peace and security in the region. That that is in the interest of both Australia and in the interest of China.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, our security partner, the United States, regards China as its greatest military threat. I’d like you, if you could, to say how do you regard China in terms of its threat, and particularly, has your view on the security threat changed as a result of your sitting down with the President?
PRIME MINISTER: In the latter, no it hasn’t. We have strategic competition in the region, but we continue to engage in order to support peace and security in the region and stability in the region. And that’s something that we advocate for, it’s something that I advocated for today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did the President express any objection to your plans about bringing the Port of Darwin back into Australian hands or any potential response that China might take to that?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it wasn’t raised.
JOURNALIST: PM, President Xi asked you to continue to improve the relationship no matter what happened in the world - this seemed to be a reference to the United States. Did you make any sort of commitments in terms of the ongoing relationship with China in terms of the actions of the United States and what it may do?
PRIME MINISTER: I spoke about the relationship with China, that was the purpose of the visit and the purpose of the meeting. And the fact is we do live in an uncertain world, something that I’ve said a number of times. During the recent election campaign you might have noted that in various speeches, media conferences, on a daily basis - so that is just a fact, that observation. But I was speaking about the relationship between Australia and China, and I asserted Australia’s position.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned Dr Yang was mentioned. Are you able to elaborate, and are we any closer to perhaps getting him out of jail and back home to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I raised Dr Yang’s case. You wouldn’t expect there to be an immediate outcome, that’s not the way these things work. The way it works is by that patient, calibrated advocacy - that is what Australians do, that’s what my Government does. And I’ll point to my Government’s record when it comes to these issues.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned dialogue, but on defence intercepts in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, Australia has complained a number of times about Chinese actions, which Australia has said are unsafe. Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and other countries have also said the same thing. Do you think, or do you get an impression that there is going to be more dialogue on these kinds of things? There is going to be a change in how the PLA acts in the region? Or have your queries on this fallen on deaf ears?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we raised the issue of Australia’s interests, and we raised it in specific contexts as well, that there have been these maritime incidents. And one of the things that we know is that dialogue is a good thing. When I spoke at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore as the lead keynote speaker a few years ago, I spoke about the need for – I think it was 2023, so two years ago – I spoke about the need for there to be military-to-military communication between the United States and China, which had broken down. And I spoke in that context as well about the relationship that was there for a long time between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and that there was always communication. If you don’t have communication, you can have misadventure and misinterpretation as well. It’s a good thing, I spoke about that in the Shangri-la Dialogue, and I’ve spoken about it ever since.
JOURNALIST: How has US President Donald Trump’s trade policy, and particularly as it relates to Australia, affected how Australia approaches its relationship to China?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, our relationship with China is very separate from that. China is our major trading partner, the destination for more than one in four of our export dollars comes here. The trade with the United States is important, but it’s less than five per cent. What Australia is doing is engaging not just with China, but we engage as well with our partners around the world, and we increasingly want to see a diversification of our trade.
JOURNALIST: Supporters of Yang Hengjun in Australia, including Feng Chongyi, say that they think the approach that your Government has taken has been too soft and too weak and has actually invited bullying from the CCP - I’d like your response to that. In the same vein, do you hold any concerns about the fact that Australian media were encircled by local authorities earlier today, asked to delete our footage, and that the police were going to be called because we were reporting on this visit?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the issue – I’m certainly not going to comment on what the family of someone who is detained here or anywhere else. That would be entirely inappropriate and insensitive. I understand the pressures that are on people when a loved one has been incarcerated. What we will do though is put forward our views in a diplomatic way in order to try to maximise an outcome. And I point towards the outcomes where Australians here in China, in Myanmar, in Vietnam, in Indonesia, the United States and the UK have all received outcomes that at the least could be called satisfactory because of my Government’s advocacy. And we’ll continue to do that in order to achieve outcomes, and that is what our objective is. The media, of course – I’m here paying my respect to the media here, that’s what I do - and China has a different system, obviously, with the media. But certainly, I’m here being accountable. I came straight here and I’m going straight back.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just briefly on the Pacific. Did you discuss the Pacific with President Xi? Did you ask China for more clarity on its strategic objectives or urge it to work through the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and if you did, what was the President’s response?
PRIME MINISTER: I stated our position of peace and security in the Pacific and stated my position of our engagement in the Pacific.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did Xi raise US pressure on Australia and other allies over the defence of Taiwan?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that President Xi didn’t raise the Port of Darwin and you didn’t use the opportunity of meeting him to explain your policy on that –
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t need to. I’ve had the same position for a decade, since the Liberal Government chose to provide an incentive to the, the Liberal federal government, chose to give an incentive to the Northern Territory Liberal Government to flog off an asset.
JOURNALIST: What concerns did Xi raise, Prime Minister? If any? Sorry to jump in.
PRIME MINISTER: None, it wasn’t raised. I can’t be clearer than that.
JOURNALIST: Were any issues raised?
PRIME MINISTER: I can’t be clearer than to say the question I was asked was not raised.
JOURNALIST: Did he raise complaints about Australia’s foreign investment? Did that come up?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: President Xi said about the trajectory that we’re on and that it shouldn’t change regardless of the international landscape. It did appear to be a comment about Donald Trump. Did he make any direct comments about Donald Trump or the US trade tariffs in relation to, I guess, in conversations about trade?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I of course asserted Australia’s view, which was we stand for free and fair trade. We want to see an open trading system. President Xi did, as part of his remarks, of course speak about the importance of international trade as well. Thanks very much.