Anthony Albanese has touched down in Shanghai to kick off a week-long diplomatic visit to China, where the prime minister hopes to strengthen ties with Australia’s biggest trading partner.
The agenda of the PM’s second official China trip will include a sit-down with President Xi Jinping and spruiking a new advertising campaign to lure Chinese visitors Down Under.
Albanese is scheduled to meet Xi later in the week in Beijing.
Alongside tourism and sporting ties with China, regional security and the volatile US market is expected to be on the agenda.
Nationals leader David Littleproud told Today he hoped Albanese was ready to broach the “tough” topics with the president while in China.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong earlier raised issues with her Chinese counterpart about the People’s Liberation Army (Navy) flotilla of warships that circumnavigated Australia earlier in the year and carried out live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea.
This is anticipated to be a key subject of conversation between Albanese and Xi.
“It’s important that he’s prepared to have the tough conversations when you’ve got his foreign minister raising the alarm bell about the strategic threat that China poses to Australia,” Littleproud said.
“You have to be able to be prepared to have those conversations.”
The federal government is hoping to bring thousands more Chinese tourists to Australia, where visitor numbers have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels.
A new tourism advertisement is set to be released as part of Tourism Australia’s “Come and Say G’day” campaign.
The PM will preside over a new agreement between Tourism Australia and Trip.com during his stay in China.
“It’s a great honour to represent Australia in international forums and this is an important engagement we will have here,” Albanese said upon arrival in Shanghai.
“The fact that I’m leading a large business delegation speaks to the importance of the economic relationship between Australia and China.”
