SYDNEY (Reuters) – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday he would accept an invitation to visit China but has yet to receive one, in a response to speculation that planning for a visit to Beijing was well advanced.
South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, that Beijing had issued an “in principle” invitation to Albanese and his trade minister Don Farrell to visit China.
The visit would likely take place in October or November, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first visit by an Australian prime minister, the report said.
Albanese said on Wednesday he had checked with his office and confirmed no invitation had been received. The prime minister said he hoped dialogue would continue, pointing to a meeting between Australia’s assistant trade minister and his Chinese counterpart at the Bo’ao forum in Hainan province last week.
“I have said that if an invitation were to be received then I would accept it and we would work out a timetable for it,” Albanese said at a press conference.
“There has not been a timetable worked out for it.”
China has begun easing trade barriers on Australian imports, including coal, as both countries inch towards economic rapprochement more than two years after China first restricted trade in several commodities following spats over investment, trade and the origins of COVID.
Albanese said he hoped a long-mooted visit to China by Trade Minister Don Farrell would happen “soon”. Farrell and his Chinese counterpart agreed to an in-person meeting following a video conference in February.
Albanese also said he would attend the G7 meeting in Tokyo in May.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
