Australian Premier Albanese Meets China’s Xi in Beijing

Asia Pacific|Australian Leader’s Bonhomie in China Belies Delicate Balancing Act

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia met with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Tuesday, as he sought to balance strengthening ties with his country’s largest trading partner and growing pressure from the United States to do more to deter Chinese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Australia values our relationship with China and will continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner, guided by our national interest,” Mr. Albanese told Mr. Xi ahead of their closed door talks.

Mr. Xi said: “China is willing to push forward China and Australia’s relations to move forward together.”

Mr. Albanese was also scheduled to meet with Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest official, on Tuesday. He was traveling with executives from the Australian mining, tourism and education sectors, underscoring the trip’s emphasis on business. China buys roughly a third of all Australian exports, which range from iron ore to wine.

But questions about security loomed over the six-day visit. Earlier this year, a weekslong deployment of Chinese warships near Australia’s waters caused alarm in Canberra. On Saturday, Mr. Albanese’s arrival in Shanghai coincided with a report in the Financial Times that the Pentagon was pressuring Australia and Japan to specify what they would do if China and the United States were to go to war over Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by Beijing.

Both countries are U.S. allies, but disclosing how they would respond to such a scenario would be highly detrimental to their important trade relationships with China — not to mention, also highly unusual. Even the United States itself will not say whether it would go to war for Taiwan, as part of a decades-old policy known as strategic ambiguity that aims to both deter China from attacking and dissuade Taiwan from seeking formal independence.