Latest / The Front / Fourth time’s a charm for Xi and Albanese

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Fourth time’s a charm for Xi and Albanese · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Kristin Amiot.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July sixteenth, twenty twenty five. The second legal
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  Speaker 1: team representing accused murderer bo Lamar Condon has quit. Lawyer
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  Speaker 1: Alexander Terraccini told the court on Monday issues had arisen
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  Speaker 1: that prevented him from continuing the matter. The former New
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  Speaker 1: South Wales police officer is charged with the murder of
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  Speaker 1: Channel ten presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Quantus flight
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  Speaker 1: attendant Luke Davies. He hasn't entered a plea, but is
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  Speaker 1: expected to defend the charges. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
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  Speaker 1: discussed the shortcomings of ORCUS with Pentagon policy chief Elbridge
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  Speaker 1: Colby before he was charged with conducting a crucial review
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  Speaker 1: of the military Pact. That exclusive story from our Washington
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  Speaker 1: correspondent Joe Kelly is live right now at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot AU. Prime Minister Anthony Albanizi scored a
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  Speaker 1: rare invite to dine with Chinese President Jijinping after the
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  Speaker 1: pair met for a fourth time on Monday. Today. Our
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  Speaker 1: North Asia correspondent Will Glasgow unpacks the meeting where what
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  Speaker 1: wasn't discussed was just as interesting as.
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  Speaker 2: What was.
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  Speaker 1: Right At the tippy top of Australia, where the team
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  Speaker 1: or sea flows into the Beagle Golf, you'll find the
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  Speaker 1: Port of Darwin. To call it strategically significant would probably
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  Speaker 1: be an understatement. It's a major gateway for trade with
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  Speaker 1: our neighbors in the Indo Pacific and regularly hosts all
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  Speaker 1: manner of vessels, from cruise liners to navy warships. In
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, the Chinese owned land Bridge Group was granted
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  Speaker 1: a ninety nine year lease for the port worth just
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  Speaker 1: over half a billion dollars. But a lot's changed since then,
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  Speaker 1: and as China muscles in on the Indo Pacific, the
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  Speaker 1: Albanesi government is planning to take back control.
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  Speaker 2: A port court in a political storm, ownership of the
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  Speaker 2: Port of Darwin to be stripped from a Chinese company,
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  Speaker 2: Ending a decade of debate.
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  Speaker 3: We have a clear view, which is that it should
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  Speaker 3: be in Australian hands.
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  Speaker 1: How Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi would broach this touchy subject
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  Speaker 1: in his meeting with Chinese President she Jin Ping was
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  Speaker 1: anyone's guess. But then it just didn't come up.
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  Speaker 2: It looks like it sounds like President she didn't want
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  Speaker 2: to ruin the mood, you know.
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  Speaker 4: I mean.
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  Speaker 1: Will Glasgow is the Australian's North Asia correspondent. I spoke
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  Speaker 1: to him between meetings in Beijing's opulent Great Hall.
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  Speaker 2: The Chinese state has gone out of its way to
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  Speaker 2: try to pump up this trip as being a success.
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  Speaker 2: Almost before it's happened. There's been laudatory coverage of the
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  Speaker 2: Australian Prime Minister and state media. And today there was
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  Speaker 2: a tone setting editorial in a China daily and that
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  Speaker 2: one was very laudatory of the Prime minister. Now nothing
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  Speaker 2: would ruin the mood, more like threatening economic consequences if
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  Speaker 2: Australia goes ahead with or if the Prime Minister goes
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  Speaker 2: ahead with that election commitment to end the ownership the
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  Speaker 2: Chinese company that owns the port of Darwin. Now that
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  Speaker 2: doesn't mean the issues resolved. I would mark that as
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  Speaker 2: something that's been pushed into the future. They've made a
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  Speaker 2: decision not to let it get in the way of
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  Speaker 2: this trip. I think it's sort of over to the
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  Speaker 2: Australian government to somehow try to negotiate that process in
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  Speaker 2: a way that doesn't embarrass the Chinese. It's also possible
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  Speaker 2: that Premier Lee, who the Prime Minister's meeting with as
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  Speaker 2: I speak to you in the Great Hall, that conversation
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  Speaker 2: is happening right now. It's possible that Shooting King's delegated
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  Speaker 2: the port of Darwin conversation to Premier Lee. The Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister also said that since she didn't bring up the
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  Speaker 2: investment regime at all in Australia now, that suggests to
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  Speaker 2: me that conversation's also been handballed to Premier Le. I'd
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  Speaker 2: be amazed if that's not raised during this meeting that
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  Speaker 2: they're having right now.
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  Speaker 1: In March, a flotilla of Chinese warships entered Australian waters,
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  Speaker 1: where they conducted live fire exercises and embarked on a
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  Speaker 1: circumnavigation of the country.
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  Speaker 4: Chaos in the air between New Zealand and Australia, forcing
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  Speaker 4: the diversion of forty nine flights when it began a
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  Speaker 4: live fire exercise.
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  Speaker 1: The Australian Defense Force hastily deployed two vessels to surveil
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  Speaker 1: the Chinese Task Group, and on Tuesday, the Prime Minister
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  Speaker 1: said President g has committed to being more transparent about
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  Speaker 1: Beijing's plans in future.
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  Speaker 3: I said what I said at the time, which was
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  Speaker 3: that it was within international law. There was no breach
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  Speaker 3: of international law by China, but that we were concerned
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  Speaker 3: about the notice and the way that it happened, including
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  Speaker 3: the li fire exercises.
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  Speaker 2: What's just happened on this trip is President she has
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  Speaker 2: told the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi this directly. He said,
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  Speaker 2: China's going to operate off Australia and in other international
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  Speaker 2: waters just as Australia does off China's coast. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: get used to it. There's going to be no end
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  Speaker 2: to those people's liberation navy exercises. They're going to continue
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  Speaker 2: to show their ability to operate further and further from
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  Speaker 2: signer and that clearly includes, as we learned with that
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  Speaker 2: circumnavigation of Australia earlier this year, that includes the entirety
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  Speaker 2: of the Australian coastline. So yeah, the takeout is get
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  Speaker 2: used to it.
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  Speaker 1: Will says that same takeout appliers to talk of a
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  Speaker 1: potential con linked over Taiwan.
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  Speaker 2: This is one where She's and Ping's made very clear
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  Speaker 2: China's policy and that is as he sees it, Taiwan's
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  Speaker 2: coming back to Beijing rule. That's not negotiable the Australian government.
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  Speaker 2: I'm in austra Albanesian is meeting with residents. She said,
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  Speaker 2: Australia supports the status quo and opposes any non peaceful
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  Speaker 2: now euphemism for violent warlike taking of Taiwan.
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  Speaker 3: Well, what we did was we put forward Australia's position,
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  Speaker 3: or I did, which is that we want peace and
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  Speaker 3: security in the region. That that is in the interests
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  Speaker 3: of both Australia and in the interests of China.
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  Speaker 2: That concerned. That it's not unique to Australia, but are
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  Speaker 2: shared in capitals all around the world. That remains and
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  Speaker 2: right now is these meetings are taking place in Taipei.
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  Speaker 2: There annual military drills which are becoming more serious every
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  Speaker 2: year as they try to get the Taiwanese population to
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  Speaker 2: appreciate that that risk has risen so much and they're
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  Speaker 2: trying to prepare them for what life might be like
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  Speaker 2: in that horrible scenario if it happens.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up by Chinese media is heaping praise on the
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  Speaker 1: PM On Tuesday, ahead of the Prime Minister's meeting with
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  Speaker 1: President ji jin Ping, The state owned English language newspaper
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  Speaker 1: China Daily, released a glowing editorial about Anthony Albanese's week
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  Speaker 1: long visit. We've used AI to bring parts of that
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  Speaker 1: publication to life.
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  Speaker 5: Against the backdrop of rising tensions between the United States
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  Speaker 5: and many countries because of the US administration's recent threat
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  Speaker 5: to levy higher tariffs on them from August first, Albanese's
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  Speaker 5: visit shows that the Australian side has a clearer judgment
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  Speaker 5: and understanding of China than it had under the previous
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  Speaker 5: Scott Morrison government.
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  Speaker 1: That, of course, is a reference to the dire state
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  Speaker 1: of the bilateral relationship before Albanese's time. Beijing was so
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  Speaker 1: offended by Scott Morrison's suggestion China was responsible for the
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  Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic. The Chinese government slapped Australia with tariffs
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  Speaker 1: and bands on a whole host of agricultural products like wine,
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  Speaker 1: bali and rock lobster. But after Labour One government in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, the relationship thawed and exports resumed.
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  Speaker 5: That Albanesi and the sizable business delegation accompanying him a
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  Speaker 5: meeting with representatives from the Tourism and sports sectors in
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  Speaker 5: Shanghai and Changdu, points to the importance Australia attaches to
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  Speaker 5: expanding its economic cooperation with China.
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  Speaker 1: Will Glasgow says this type of editorial is intended to
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  Speaker 1: be read by visiting diplomats and it gives a pretty
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  Speaker 1: good indication of China's mood towards Australia right now.
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  Speaker 2: Words matter in the Chinese system and that was a
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  Speaker 2: really important tone setting editorial. It's showing that China wants
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  Speaker 2: Australia to know, but the world to know that it
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  Speaker 2: considers its relationship with Australia to be going well and
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  Speaker 2: that it's improved a lot. I mean, it makes explicit
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  Speaker 2: in that editorial that it blames the last Australian government,
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  Speaker 2: Scott Morrison's government for what went wrong. They were quite
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  Speaker 2: explicit in their criticism of him all the way until
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  Speaker 2: the twenty twenty two election, and when Albanezi came in
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, they weren't subtle in claiming it
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  Speaker 2: as something of a victory for China, and they've kind
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  Speaker 2: of cheered him all the way along. During the last
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  Speaker 2: three years. They have been frustrated by at times the
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  Speaker 2: way he's adopted a lot of the Morrison government's policy
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  Speaker 2: and also how he's created a formula where he continues
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  Speaker 2: to speak about difficult parts of the relationship and eras
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  Speaker 2: where Australia and China profoundly disagree, particularly in the security space.
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  Speaker 2: But my view on that is, and that editorial makes
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  Speaker 2: this exact point. This has so much to do with
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  Speaker 2: how China sees America and an opportunity it has right
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  Speaker 2: now to really press its interests and maybe transform some
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  Speaker 2: of its relations with formal US treaty allies. As there's
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  Speaker 2: a president in the White House who is just royaling
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  Speaker 2: the international system and putting unprecedented stress on the US
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  Speaker 2: Alliance network, you know this is a time of great
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  Speaker 2: historic change. Sujan Ping sees a lot of opportunity in that,
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  Speaker 2: and you know they see Anthony Albanezi playing a role
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  Speaker 2: in there as well. Frankly, Trump is so self absorbed.
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  Speaker 2: I w stunned if you've in new safely place. There's
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  Speaker 2: certainly people in his administration though, people in the Pentagon,
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  Speaker 2: people in the State Department and other parts of that
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  Speaker 2: system who'll be watching this very closely and they won't
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  Speaker 2: like it at all.
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  Speaker 1: Will Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. You can
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  Speaker 1: read the latest from the Prime Minister's trip to China
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  Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot com dot au