Australian PM Albanese expected to visit China next month

Hong Kong media reports that Australian Prime Minister Albanese is expected to visit Beijing next month to seek further deepening of China-Australia relations.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on Friday (October 30), citing informed sources, that Albanese will first attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in Shenzhen from November 18 to 19, and then travel to Beijing.

This will be Albanese's third visit to Beijing since taking office in 2022, and his first visit to China since July last year.

Relations between the two countries have gradually stabilized after years of trade disputes, but recent geopolitical developments have brought new complicating factors to bilateral ties.

On September 17 this year, China and Australia held a defense coordination dialogue, during which Australia expressed concern over China's test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile on July 6 and stressed that militaries of all countries should avoid miscalculation and escalation.

From September 8 to September 24, the United States, Japan and Australia held the "Orient Shield 26" joint military exercise in Japan, and the U.S. "Typhon" mid-range missile system participated in the exercise for the first time.

Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Jiang Bin said that the exercise, packaged under the name "shield," is in fact advancing the forward deployment of strategic offensive weapons, harming the normal security interests of other countries, raising the risk of regional arms races and military confrontation, and seriously threatening regional security and stability.

We firmly oppose this.

Jiang Bin urged relevant countries to respect the security concerns of other countries and correct erroneous practices.