Australian PM raises trade ‘blockages’ with China’s Xi
Associated PressNUSA DUA, Indonesia — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he raised with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday his concerns about trade “blockages,” but did not walk away from their first face-to-face talks with any promises that the $13 billion barriers to Australian exports would be lifted. The Australian government described the talks on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia as the first formal bilateral meeting between the two nations’ leaders since 2016, when Xi met then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Albanese said the two leaders also discussed human rights in China’s western Xinjang region, Chinese-born Australian citizens Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei who are detained in China, climate change, self-ruled Taiwan and Australia’s desire for Beijing to use its influence on Russia to prevent the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Chinese People’s Daily English-language newspaper reported last week that “signs of resetting bilateral ties have emerged” since Albanese’s government came to power in May.