Australian PM Blasts China Live-Fire   07/15 06:24

   

   BEIJING (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he 
complained to China's President Xi Jinping during a meeting on Tuesday about a 
Chinese naval live-fire exercise off the Australian coast that forced 
commercial aircraft to change course.

   The exercise, held in February, saw a Chinese flotilla partially 
circumnavigate Australia in international waters beneath a busy commercial 
flight path in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

   The mission was widely regarded as a display of Chinese military strength 
and was among several issues raised in what Albanese described as a "very 
constructive meeting."

   "President Xi said that China engaged in exercises, just as Australia 
engages in exercises," Albanese told reporters, referring to freedom of 
navigation missions conducted by Australian military in the disputed South 
China Sea.

   "I said what I said at the time," Albanese added. "There was no breach of 
international law by China, but that we were concerned about the notice and the 
way that it happened, including the live-fire exercises,"

   Chinese leader doesn't raise US pressure on allies over Taiwan

   Albanese said the Chinese leader did not mention U.S. pressure on allies to 
declare positions on a potential war over Taiwan.

   "I reaffirmed on Taiwan Australia's position of support for the status quo," 
Albanese said. Australia has a one-China policy that recognizes the People's 
Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and considers Taiwan a 
part of China.

   With the 10th anniversary of Australia's free trade deal with China falling 
this year, both governments have agreed to review the pact with an aim to 
improve economic relations.

   Following the meeting with Xi, Albanese met Premier Li Qiang and Chairman 
Zhao Leji of the National People's Congress.

   At the outset of the leaders' meeting, Xi told Albanese that seeking common 
ground while setting aside differences is in line with "the fundamental 
interests of our two countries and our two peoples."

   Albanese concurred with Xi's remark, saying "That approach has indeed 
produced very positive benefits for both Australia and for China."

   Chinese president doesn't raise Australia's foreign investment rules

   There had been speculation that Xi would use the meeting to raise Albanese's 
plan to end a Chinese company's 99-year-lease on the strategically important 
Port of Darwin, which the United States is concerned could be used to spy on 
its military forces.

   Landbridge Industry Australia, a subsidiary of Rizhao-based Shandong 
Landbridge Group, signed the lease with the Northern Territory government in 
2015, three years after U.S. Marines began annual rotations through Darwin as 
part of a U.S. pivot to Asia.

   But Albanese said Xi did not mention the lease, nor did he discuss the 
broader issue of Australia's foreign investment rules that prevent Chinese 
ownership of critical infrastructure.

   Reporters questioned Albanese about Chinese security officials' treatment of 
Australian journalists who traveled to China with him.

   Reporter Stephen Dziedzic said he recording a piece to camera for Australian 
TV news in front of a Beijing landmark with a camera crew on Tuesday when he 
was interrupted by security guards. The guard told the group that police would 
be called. The Australians were not permitted to leave.

   Another reporter, Anna Henderson, said guards told journalists to delete 
their footage. Australian diplomats intervened and TV crews were permitted to 
leave.

   "China has a different system, obviously, with the media," Albanese said.

   Australian prime minister makes his second visit to China

   The state visit is Albanese's second visit to China since he was elected 
prime minister in 2022.

   Australia, like many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is caught between 
China and the United States. Its economy is heavily dependent on exports to 
China, including iron ore for the steel industry. But it also shares America's 
concerns about China's human rights record and its growing military activity in 
the Pacific, including in waters near Australia.

   Albanese is in Beijing at the midpoint of a weeklong trip to China that 
started in Shanghai -- China's commercial capital -- where government and 
business leaders from the two countries discussed deepening cooperation in 
tourism and reducing carbon emissions in iron ore mining and steel production.

   From Beijing, he will travel to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, 
where he said he would focus on growing ties in medical technology and sports.