Xi Jinping has congratulated Anthony Albanese on his reelection despite previous tensions involving Chinese warships conducting drills in the Tasman Sea. The Chinese foreign ministry had initially expressed their willingness to collaborate with the new Australian government after the recent federal election.
However, Xi Jinping took it a step further by personally extending his congratulations to Albanese. The Chinese embassy in Australia released a statement affirming that Xi had met with Albanese over the past three years, engaging in extensive discussions on various strategic matters related to China-Australia relations.
According to the embassy, these discussions resulted in crucial agreements that have served as a roadmap for enhancing bilateral connections. Xi emphasized the importance of strengthening collaboration between China and Australia, highlighting its significance in achieving mutual growth and fostering global peace and stability.
Xi had also ‘expressed his readiness to work with Albanese to advance the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership in a steady fashion’, the embassy added, ‘delivering greater benefits to the people of both countries’.
The Chinese president’s message came after the People’s Liberation Army Navy left the previous Labor government red-faced earlier this year, conducting a circumnavigation of Australia and live drills. In February – two months before Mr Albanese’s election campaign got under way – Chinese warships held live-fire exercises 640 kilometers off the New South Wales coast, forcing 49 commercial flights between Australia and New Zealand to change course.
It emerged at Senate estimates hearings that Australian Defense Force authorities were first alerted to the drills, not by China, but by a Virgin pilot who heard the ships broadcasting. The exercise took place in international waters, so did not breach international law, but Mr Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles both said China had not given sufficient warning.
The drills were seen by many as a bold demonstration of China’s sea power. Anne-Marie Brady, a Mandarin-speaking professor at the University of Canterbury who specializes in Chinese domestic and foreign policy, told Daily Mail Australia that the drills were a warning of China’s future intentions.
‘The livefire exercises in the Tasman are a shot across the bow to Australia and New Zealand of China’s sea power and desire to normalize a permanent presence in the South West Pacific,’ Ms Brady said in February. ‘There has been a steady buildup of People’s Liberation Army naval capacity across the South West Pacific.’
Ms Brady added it was worrying that the United States had not made any comment on the drills. ‘It is a very bad sign that the US has not offered any public support for Australia during this crisis,’ she said.
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