Anthony Albanese has sniped back at the opposition’s criticism of his “indulgent” six-day visit to China, pointing out the former Coalition government failed to hold a single phone call with the major trading partner for years.
The prime minister has spent this week touring the country with stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu amid a period of geopolitical instability and escalating trade hostilities between the US and its trading partners.
Albanese met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the premier, Li Qiang, to discuss a number of issues, including trade tensions with the US, the issue of independence for Taiwan and two-way tourism links.
But the prime minister scheduled time for visits to popular tourist attractions, including the Great Wall of China and a panda research facility, echoing historical trips by former leaders Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser.
The opposition finance minister, James Paterson, criticised Albanese for the picture-friendly stops, describing them as “indulgent” and questioning whether the trip had achieved “tangible outcomes”.
“I have to say that some of this is starting to look a little bit indulgent,” Paterson told Sky News.
“The appropriate time to do a nostalgic history tour of Labor party mythology is after you retire, in your own time, at your own expense, not on the taxpayer dime.”
While the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she wished him well, she said she was “disappointed” Albanese didn’t receive assurances about the Chinese military’s live-fire exercises in international waters between Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.
It “needs to be a strong and respectful relationship, and respect cuts both ways,” Ley said.
“Friendship is important, but it can’t come at the cost of our national interest. And Australians expect their prime minister to stand up for that national interest in those conversations that he has with world leaders.”
Speaking from Chengdu, Albanese said the opposition should sort “themselves out” before attacking the Labor government.
“Those pictures go to 27 million people potentially in Australia, they go to over a billion people in China,” he said.
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“And those billion people represent people who increasingly are rising up the income ladder and are potential tourists and therefore job creators in Australia.
“If James Paterson doesn’t understand that, then he doesn’t understand much. And quite frankly, I think the latter applies.”
Relations between Australia and China deteriorated in May 2020 under the former Coalition government after the former prime minister Scott Morrison backed an international inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 virus.
Australia was hit with trade sanctions on exports to China and frozen out of minister-to-minister dialogues during the two-year period.
While trade and diplomatic relations have improved since Albanese was elected, tensions remain on a series of issues, including the imprisonment of Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun, who was given a suspended death sentence in 2024.
Following his meeting with Xi on Tuesday, Albanese promised “patient, calibrated advocacy” on sensitive issues with China.
“President Xi Jinping and I agreed dialogue must be at the centre of our relationship,” Albanese said.
“If you don’t have communication, you can have misadventure and misinterpretation.”
