I thought we weren’t meeting any Chinese officials until they lifted their arbitrary trade bans:
Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister in three years to speak face-to-face to a Chinese leader, after Premier Li Keqiang sought him out at the ASEAN summit in Cambodia, signalling a likely meeting with President Xi Jinping in Bali this week.
The four-minute exchange came as US President Joe Biden consulted with key allies including the Prime Minister, and the leaders of South Korea and Japan, ahead of his bilateral meeting with Mr Xi on Monday evening.
Mr Biden will seek assurances from the Chinese leader over key security issues including the future of Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, and the PRC’s involvement in a Cambodian naval base.
Premier Li Keqiang is a departing nobody of the regime. The former 2IC has no sway over the future. Does Albo hope to sign a new Chinese accord lasting until March 2023?
This is a national insult gratefully received by Australia’s 130-pound wringing wet weakling PM.
As I have said before, there is one upside to a weak leader, he gets pushed around by US:
Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden have swapped notes on the eve of a historic meeting between the US President and China’s Xi Jinping which is expected to be dominated by Western concerns about North Korea, Beijing’s designs on Taiwan, its disregard for international law, and its support for Russia in Ukraine.
Even to the point of hosing PJK:
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says criticism of Labor’s hardline approach to China, such as that levelled by Paul Keating, is an insult to former prime minister Gough Whitlam who founded the modern trade relationship with Beijing 50 years ago.
It’s an insult to sense.
