Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied experiences he has been formally invited to China.
Earlier this week, The South China Morning Post cited each Chinese and Australian authorities sources in reporting President Xi Jinping’s authorities had prolonged an “in principle” invitation to go to Beijing.
The article, revealed on-line on Tuesday, stated Mr Albanese’s journey would happen round September or October.
Asked to substantiate the experiences at a press convention on Wednesday, Mr Albanese stated “no”, he had not but been invited.
“I read this, and I did check with my office,” he instructed reporters.
“I have said very clearly that dialogue is important. We are hoping that the Trade Minister (Don Farrell) will meet with his counterpart soon.
“The Assistant Trade Minister (Tim Ayres) met with his counterpart just last week.
“I’ve met with President Xi and I think dialogue is a good thing.
“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. There has not been a timetable (yet) worked out for it.”
He was requested by the identical reporter if, when he did journey to China, he would take a leaf out of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ ebook and never take journalists with him.
Mr Albanese didn’t reply the query.
Mr Albanese met with President Xi on the sidelines of the G20 final yr.
Any go to from Mr Albanese would make him the primary prime minister since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016 to journey to Beijing.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres have met with leaders in China over the previous months.
The experiences in regards to the invitation to Mr Albanese comes as a Chinese authorities spokesperson urged the Australian authorities to rethink its restrictions on the app TikTok.
Beijing made “stern representations” after Mr Albanese ticked off on a government-wide ban over espionage issues.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Nin urged the “Australian side to earnestly abide by the rules of the market economy and the principles of fair competition”, and that Beijing had relayed issues to Canberra.
Ms Mao stated Australia wanted to offer “Chinese companies with a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment”.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
