Anthony Albanese will host Chinese Premier Li Qiang next week for a four-day visit, which the Prime Minister says is an opportunity to continue building relationships 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.
Albanese and 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.
“Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia is an important opportunity to directly address key issues for our two nations,” Mr Albanese said.
“China is Australia’s largest trading partner and our economic relationship continues to bring substantial benefits to both countries.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will arrive in Australia within days. In the photo, the couple met in China at the end of 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 facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.
An unofficial ban on live lobster imports is expected to be a key topic of discussion among leaders.
Premier Li will arrive in Australia on Saturday, where he will visit the Adelaide Zoo for the first time, home to the only two giant pandas in the southern hemisphere.
Albanese will meet President Xi Jinping’s second-in-command for an official leaders’ meeting in Canberra next Monday.
Asked whether he would use the upcoming meeting to call for zoo attractions to remain in Australia, Albanese said his government was “pro-pandas.”
“We like pandas and so do Australians… There hasn’t been any announcement about it, but I think the presence of those pandas in Adelaide so far has brought great joy,” he said.
Premier Li will visit the giant pandas at Adelaide Zoo (pictured) as part of his visit to Australia.
Premier Li will then travel to Perth for a business conference and visit a Chinese-owned lithium plant.
Albanese will also mention an incident in which a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares near an Australian navy helicopter in May.
‘It was dangerous and should not have happened. That won’t happen again. So we will certainly introduce it,” he told reporters in Canberra.
During the talks, Albanese will also press Premier Li on the suspended death sentence China imposed on Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun in February.
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.
