One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Anthony Albanese for meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping before seeing Donald Trump in person.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday met with the Communist Party leader in Beijing where Chinese security guards in the authoritarian, one-party state also clashed with Australian journalists covering the diplomatic mission.
Senator Hanson said Albanese’s visit to China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, had jeopardised diplomatic relations with the United States, Australia’s biggest defence ally since World War II.
‘While Anthony Albanese tours China, our alliance with the United States, the one that keeps Australia safe, is being sidelined,’ she said.
‘The message? Labor’s more comfortable in Beijing than standing shoulder to shoulder with our closest ally.’
Albanese’s visit to China comes after Colby Elbridge, the US Undersecretary of Defence, this week asked if the likes of Australia would join the US in defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion of the island it considers part of China.
The Trump Administration is frustrated that Australia’s defence spending languishes at just two per cent of gross domestic product, a level well short of the 3.5 per cent level Washington wants.
Elbridge wants US allies to match what the United States has spent on defence, as proportion of the economy since the 1990s, arguing countries like Australia needed to ‘step up their defence spending and other efforts related to our collective defence’.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Anthony Albanese for meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping before seeing Donald Trump in person
The Prime Minister on Tuesday met with the Communist Party leader in Beijing
Senator Hanson said the Americans were right to be concerned about whether Australia would come to the US’s aid in defending Taiwan, an autonomous democracy China wants to politically integrate with the mainland.
‘The Americans are asking a simple, fair question: if China invades Taiwan, where does Australia stand? Albanese won’t answer. That silence speaks volumes,’ she said.
The Trump Administration is also reviewing the AUKUS submarine deal set to cost Australia $368billion, giving it access to American-designed Virginia Class submarines.
‘Let’s not forget we’re in the middle of a $368billion AUKUS deal,’ Senator Hanson said.
‘They’re offering us nuclear submarines. And Labor can’t even show basic respect, let alone commitment.
‘This isn’t leadership. It’s dangerous. It puts our security, sovereignty and future at risk.’
Albanese’s chances of meeting with Trump have been diminished after it emerged that Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd, had previously described the President as a ‘village idiot’.
UK Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already met with President Trump and has also promised to increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP by 2029, rising to five per cent by 2035.
Chinese security guards in the authoritarian, one-party state also clashed with Australian journalists covering the diplomatic mission
The UK is a member of NATO, a 32-member body that requires all its signatory nations, including the US, Germany, Canada and France, to react militarily if any of its members are invaded.
Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022, is not a NATO member.
But under the 1951 ANZUS treaty, the Americans are only required to consult Australia if another country attacks us, but not necessarily send in troops.
Australia has since joined the US-led campaigns in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Albanese revealed that his government’s buyback of the Port of Darwin, announced during the election campaign, was not raised during his visit.
‘I cannot be clearer than to say it was not raised,’ he said.
A former Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government led by former chief minister Adam Giles signed a 99-year lease with the Chinese Landbridge Group in October 2015.
Senator Hanson had accused Albanese of talking about ‘green steel’ instead of raising Taiwan or the Port of Darwin.’
‘While Australians are being hit with soaring power bills and rising taxes, Anthony Albanese spent six days in China talking about “green steel”,’ she said.
‘Not Taiwan. Not Chinese spy ships. Not the Port of Darwin, leased to a billionaire with ties to the Communist Party. Just vague platitudes and champagne toasts.
‘He skipped meeting a key AUKUS ally in the US, but found time to wine and dine in Beijing. That’s not leadership, it’s dangerous neglect.’
