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Albanese: ‘We support the status quo’ for Taiwan

Anthony Albanese says Australia is looking to partner with Trip.com to promote Australia as a destination for Chinese visitors, showcasing the potential for significant events like the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup and the grand prix, but also significant times of year like New Year’s Eve and the lunar new year.

Tourism is such an important economic benefit for Australia. It’s about jobs, it’s sustainable jobs. Australia has so much to offer as well. And one of the things about the market here is that for many of the visitors to Australia, they will go for a long period of time. It’s not just dropping by for a weekend, they’re here for a period of time. They visit our cities, but they also visit our regions such as the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the other sites that are there in regional Australia.

The prime minister was asked the same thing his counterparts were asked during earlier appearances on Australian television this morning: what would Australia do in the event China went to war with Taiwan; is Australia willing to spend more on its defence; and is it willing to put more money into the Aukus alliance?

Albanese offered the same response his colleagues did – the same numbers, almost word for word: Australia is investing in the region and trade to ensure its peace and security; private conversations will remain private; Australia is already spending billions on defence and will take spending decisions on merit; Australia is already investing in its industrial capability as part of Aukus.

On Taiwan specifically:

I think it’s important that we have a consistent position, which Australia has had for a long period of time. We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don’t support any unilateral action there. We have a clear position and we have been consistent about that.

What’s important when it comes to international relationships is that you have a stable, orderly, coherent position going forward. Australia does. We want peace and security in our region. We don’t want any change to the status quo. That’s Australia’s position today. That was Australia’s position last week. That’s been a bipartisan position for a long period of time.

Anthony Albanese has given some brief remarks on his first full day in China, talking up the links with Australia as he seeks to drum up economic and tourism ties.

In Shanghai, the prime minister went for a walk along a riverfront with fiance Jodie Haydon and Australian soccer coach Kevin Muscat, who is managing Shanghai Port FC – a football club with some strong ties down under. Albanese will also today visit the headquarters of Trip.com, one of the world’s largest travel agent companies, to help launch a new tourism campaign.

Eagle-eyed readers and Australian politics tragics might remember this was the same river Albanese, clad in a yellow Socceroos jersey, took a walk along on his prior visit in 2023 – video of which led to him going somewhat viral on Chinese social media and being branded a “handsome boy” by premier Li Qiang.

On Sunday, Albanese said he was keen to “build the people-to-people relationships.”

I’ve brought with me a whole range of business people from the resources sector, the tourism sector, from the education sector, because one in four of Australian jobs is dependent upon our exports and overwhelmingly by far the largest destination for Australian exports is right here in China.

About 25 per cent, more than the next four countries combined: Japan, South Korea, the United States, and India. That says something about how important this relationship is.

Albanese said he was keen to talk about tourism and looking forward to meeting Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a really important business roundtable as well from businesses around Australia who’ve travelled up to be here and led by the Business Council of Australia.

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• This topic was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by  Alexender Noah.

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