Li meets with Australian PM in Kuala Lumpur

Premier Li Qiang and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reaffirmed their commitment to advancing Sino-Australian relations and deepening bilateral cooperation across multiple sectors, when they met on Monday in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation.

Li expressed China's readiness to work with Australia to maintain strategic communication, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and build a more mature, stable, and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership. He emphasized that such efforts would benefit the people of both nations and contribute to regional and global peace, stability and development.

This marked the second meeting between the two leaders in three months time as Albanese paid a week-long official visit to China in July and attended the 10th China-Australia Annual Leaders' Meeting in Beijing.

During Monday's meeting, the Chinese premier lauded the positive momentum in China-Australia ties and the steady progress in exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

Li underscored the importance of enhancing strategic development alignment and policy coordination between the two nations. He called for leveraging China-Australia dialogue?mechanisms — such as the Strategic Economic Dialogue and the Joint Ministerial Economic Commission — and accelerating discussions on the review and upgrading of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement to further deepen and substantiate economic and trade cooperation.

He also highlighted the potential in green energy, advanced technology, and digital industries.

Li reiterated China's commitment to supporting Chinese enterprises in expanding investments in Australia, while stressing that China hopes Australia will provide an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate. The premier also emphasized the need to promote people-to-people ties through youth engagement, tourism and educational exchanges.

Addressing global challenges, Li advocated for closer coordination under multilateral frameworks like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization to improve global governance.

Echoing Li's sentiments, Albanese also acknowledged the positive momentum in Australia-China relations and progress in practical cooperation. Stressing Australia's commitment to fostering a mature and stable relationship with China, he expressed willingness to strengthen high-level exchanges and dialogues at all levels, deepen mutual understanding, and properly manage differences.

Albanese called for efforts to expand cooperation in areas such as trade, the green economy, minerals, climate change, and cultural exchanges.

He expressed Australia's support for China's hosting of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting and emphasized shared interests in upholding the free trade system and promoting regional stability and prosperity.