“The China of today is not the same as the China of the 1970s,or even the 2000s. Some may prefer to pretend otherwise,but President Xi himself has made that clear,” Wong will say in the Whitlam Oration,her most significant speech in Australia since Labor’s May election victory.
“It is an insult to all Gough[Whitlam] did to prepare us for the future if we act as though we live in a world that has long since passed.”
Wong will also accuse the Coalition of politicising Australia’s relationship with China,calling on opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham to “explicitly reject the rending of national unity as a craven political tactic”.
Wong will say that it is in the interests of both Australia and China to stabilise the relationship,but it will “take time because our differences are not trivial”.
“I have made it plain that we will speak out as necessary on the issues that matter to Australians,including human rights and upholding the international rules to which we have all agreed,” Wong will say.
“And I have been clear that we believe the removal of impediments to Australian exports and the full resumption of our bilateral trade would greatly benefit both Australia and China.”
Before departing for Asia,Albanese said he would continue to argue China’s $20 billion-worth of economic sanctions “are not justified” and “that they need to be removed”.
Xi Jinping is returning to overseas travel after staying put in China throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.Credit:Bloomberg
Albanese met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen,who is hosting the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh on Saturday as well as the leaders of Vietnam and Laos.
Albanese signalled a renewed focus on Australia’s relations with South-East Asia by announcing the appointment of former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore to the newly created position of special envoy for the region.
“Deepening engagement with South-East Asia is a key priority for my government,” Albanese said.
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“We want to maximise the significant trade,investment and other economic opportunities for Australia and our region,and enhance our people-to-people ties.”
Previewing Monday’s Biden-Xi meeting,US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it was an important moment for the leaders to be able to “sit face-to-face,and not face-to-face with a video screen between them for the first time in President Biden’s presidency”.
“It just takes the conversation to a different level strategically and allows the leaders to explore in deeper detail what each of them see in terms of their intentions and priorities,” he said.
“I do believe that there will be important clarifications – a sharpening of our understanding of the PRC perspective and a sharpening of their understanding of ours – in this meeting.
“And that’s really what this meeting is about. It’s not about deliverables or trying to produce some joint statement.”
Sullivan said Biden viewed the meeting as “the start of a series of engagements that will also include further leader-to-leader meetings down the road”.
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