00:00 After wrapping up his visit here in Washington, the Prime Minister on Saturday heads to China.
00:07 Now, this visit in the United States has been all about deepening, strengthening, broadening
00:11 the alliance beyond just defence into other areas like critical minerals, artificial intelligence,
00:17 cyber security.
00:18 The relationship with China, well, it's quite a different one.
00:21 We know that we've had years of tension and trade sanctions in this relationship.
00:25 There are now signs of improvement.
00:27 Beijing's been dropping a lot of those tariffs, releasing Chiang Lai.
00:30 The Prime Minister now making this visit to Beijing, which will be the first by an Australian
00:34 leader in some seven years, to China.
00:37 The Prime Minister has flagged before leaving the United States that he even sees a role
00:42 for Australia in helping to build engagement between the two major powers.
00:47 Well, we're a middle power.
00:48 We're clearly our allies is very clear.
00:53 We have an alliance with the United States, we're a strategic partner with the United
00:57 States, but we're also a player in the region.
01:02 And I think that Australia's word is very important in the world.
01:08 But the Prime Minister has also told insiders he will be delivering some straight talk to
01:13 Xi Jinping, whether that's on human rights or the South China Sea, and also pointing
01:18 out Australia's concerns over China's support for Russia and its refusal to condemn Hamas.
01:24 We have a very different position when it comes to the actions of a terrorist group
01:30 like Hamas, and we've seen the dreadful consequences.
01:34 The consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to reverberate around supermarket
01:41 shelves in Australia.
01:42 So Australia needs to engage with the world.
01:46 We need to have a seat at the table, and my government's determined to do so.
01:51 The comments set the scene for what could be a frank exchange between Anthony Albanese
01:55 and Xi Jinping amongst the efforts to normalise the relationship.
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