Quick chat offers hopes of PM meeting Xi
ANTHONY Albanese could be a step closer to a meeting with Xi Jinping after an informal chat with the Chinese Premier on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Cambodia.
The Prime Minister spoke with Premier Li Keqiang for about four minutes as they took their seats at a gala dinner on Saturday evening.
It was the first time Mr Albanese and Mr Li had met, and the pair exchanged greetings and spoke briefly through a translator about the 50-year anniversary of modern ties between Australia and China.
Scott Morrison was the last Australian prime minister to sit down with Mr Li during bilateral talks on the sidelines of the 2019 ASEAN summit in Bangkok.
There is speculation the Prime Minister could secure a face-to-face meeting with President Xi, with Mr Albanese expressing hope talks could be locked in while the pair were attending the G20 in Bali.
“There are no preconditions for a meeting,” he said.
“I look forward to having a constructive dialogue if a meeting takes place. I think there is a great deal of goodwill here, certainly from Australia. And I have no reason to think that there’s not goodwill on the Chinese side as well.”
The last Australian prime minister to meet Mr Xi was Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.
US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez and African Union chair Macky Sall are all scheduled to hold talks with Mr Xi in Indonesia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the President would meet other world leaders “upon request”.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said she hoped the Xi-Biden meeting would include “constructive talks” on climate change.