Anthony Albanese confirms Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Australia within days
Anthony Albanese will host Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang next week for a four-day visit in what the Prime Minister said is an opportunity to further build relations with Australia’s largest trading partner.
This is the second visit by a senior Chinese official to Australia this year, following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit in March.
Mr Albanese and Mr Li will have lunch at an Adelaide winery with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Trade Minister Don Farrell and wine industry leaders, just months after a controversial ban was lifted.
“Prime Minister Li Qiang’s visit to Australia is an important opportunity to directly address important issues for both our countries,” Mr Albanese said.
“China is Australia’s largest trading partner and our economic relationship continues to deliver significant benefits to both our countries.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will arrive in Australia within days. The photo shows the couple’s meetings in China late last year
The winery lunch follows Beijing’s decision to lift crippling sanctions on Australian wine in March.
Last week, China also lifted sanctions on exports from five Australian meat processing plants in NSW and Queensland.
An unofficial ban on the import of live lobsters is expected to be a major talking point among leaders.
Prime Minister Li arrives in Australia on Saturday, where he will first visit the Adelaide Zoo, home to the only two giant pandas in the southern hemisphere.
Mr Albanese will meet President Xi Jinping’s second-in-command next Monday for an official leaders meeting in Canberra.
When asked if he would use the upcoming meeting to call for the preservation of Australia’s zoo attractions, Albanese said his government was “pro-panda”.
“We love panda bears and so do Australians, so… No announcement has been made about that yet, but I think the presence of those pandas in Adelaide has brought a lot of joy so far,” he said.
Prime Minister Li will visit the giant pandas at the Adelaide Zoo (pictured) as part of his visit Down Under
Premier Li then travels to Perth for a business roundtable and a visit to a Chinese-owned lithium factory.
Mr Albanese will also raise an incident in which a Chinese fighter dropped flares near an Australian Navy helicopter in May
‘It was dangerous and should not have happened. It will not happen again. So we will certainly put that forward,” he told reporters in Canberra.
During talks, Albanese will also pressure Prime Minister Li about the conditional death sentence that China handed down in February against Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun.
Albanese became the first Australian prime minister to visit China since 2016 after flying to Beijing in November. He is pictured with Chinese Premier Li Qiang
