Anthony Albanese to meet with Xi Jinping ahead of G20 meeting as China prepares for Trump trade war

Rio de Janeiro: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday before the G20 summit, as Beijing looks to shore up support ahead of a looming trade war with the incoming Trump Administration.

It will come ahead of Mr Albanese’s speech to fellow G20 leaders, where he will demand greater condemnation of the wars in the Middle East and Russia, pointing to their impact on poverty, hunger, high inflation, and energy prices.

The meeting with Mr Xi will be the third since Mr Albanese assumed office, and is expected to cover regional security and climate change, and forms part of the Chinese president’s trade-focused diplomatic blitz in South America - first at APEC in Peru and now in Brazil.

Beijing is trying to strengthen relationships as it stares down Donald Trump’s proposed trade agenda, with the president-elect having vowed to hit Chinese imports with 60 per cent tariffs and slug goods from elsewhere with up to 20 per cent imposts.

Mr Albanese has opposed Mr Trump’s tariff plans but said it was not about picking sides. He has maintained that Australia can and will work with Beijing and Washington as regional middle powers.

The meeting with Mr Xi comes after Beijing praised Mr Albanese for his “strategic autonomy” amid “unprecedented geopolitical complexity and uncertainty” following Mr Trump’s election.

In a glowing editorial by government mouthpiece the China Daily, Beijing said Mr Albanese should serve as a role model for other American allies looking to balance relations with China and a second Trump Administration.

When asked about the endorsement, Mr Albanese said he didn’t “subscribe to the China Daily”, and said he was working with Australia’s best interests in mind.

“What I’ve done with China is work in the way that we said we would before the election. We said we would cooperate where we can and we would disagree where we must and we would engage in our national interests. I’d done that without compromising any of Australia’s national interests,” he said on Friday.

He said Australia’s partnership with the US was strong and enduring, but highlighted the economic importance of the relationship with China.

In addition to meeting with Mr Xi, Mr Albanese will also meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and EU President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

He will then intervene in the G20, outlining Australia’s commitment to open trade and agricultural sustainability as critical elements in the fight against hunger and poverty.

In his speech, he will call for greater climate action and for more urgent attempts to end conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“When we are grappling with the big geo-political and global economic challenges facing our nations, we must never lose sight of their impact on our citizens and their daily lives,” he will say.

He will say that “in times of global turmoil, it is always those who have the least who are hurt the most” and point to the “shocking loss of innocent life” in the Middle East and the suffering of Ukrainians.

“The G20 is another vital opportunity for the international community to call for a de-escalation of the violence in the Middle East, and to condemn the illegal and immoral actions of Russia and North Korea,” he will say.

“There is a direct connection between these conflicts and a worldwide surge in inflation and energy prices. We should (also) be very clear about the link between international conflict and global hunger.”

It comes after Mr Biden approved the use of long-range missiles for Ukraine after the North Korean intervention marked a turning point in the conflict.