CANBERRA –
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang met on Monday in the first visit to the country by a Chinese prime minister in seven years, with trade ties, regional security and a jailed Australian writer on the host’s agenda.
The visit by Li, China’s highest-ranking official after President Xi Jinping, marks a stabilization in relations between the US security ally and the world’s second-largest economy, after a frosty period that saw Beijing block $20 billion in Australian exports and friction over defense -encounters .
“Engagement is important and necessary to address some of the serious challenges we face, and to look at working together,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a radio interview on Monday.
