Treasurer Jim Chalmers,right,talks with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during the G20 finance and health ministers’ meeting in Bali on the weekend.Credit:AP
“The prime minister’s schedule hasn’t been finalised yet for the next couple of days,but we’ve made it very clear that we think engaging in a calm and considered and respectful and meaningful way would make a contribution to stabilising this relationship.
“I think it’s in everybody’s interest for our region to be peaceful and prosperous and stable and secure.”
But Chalmers emphasised the Australian call for an end to Chinese trade restrictions that have hurt exports of barley,wine and other products.
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“We would like to see,as part of the stabilising of the relationship,some of those trade restrictions lifted – that’s a priority for us because it’s important for our economy,” Chalmers said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Bali.
Li approached Albanese at a leader’s dinner at the East Asia Summit on Saturday night for an informal talk,leading to speculation a meeting with Xi may occur in the next few days.
Xi has not held formal bilateral talks with an Australian leader since a meeting with then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.
The Australian message comes when United States President Joe Biden is due to hold a bilateral meeting with Xi in Bali on Monday,before the formal G20 proceedings begin on Tuesday.
The Biden administration said the message at the meeting would be that the US was prepared for “stiff competition” with China but “does not seek conflict”.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.