Shadow defence minister Angus Taylor urged the Australian Government to shore up relations with United States President Donald Trump and sign a deal with Taiwan, despite the Prime Minister's visit to China.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has recently visited China to mend broken relations between the countries.
He met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Li congratulated Albanese on his re-election and commended him on his “personal efforts” to stabilise the China-Australia relationship, which soured during the pandemic under the former Liberal government.
“China-Australia relations have moved beyond a low point and returned to the right track of stability and development,” Li said.
In May 2020, China imposed A$20 billion in trade sanctions on Australia following a list of grievances, including foreign investment controls, national security settings and the Morrison government’s push for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the two last met in October 2024, Li said “a lot has happened in the world”, causing growing instability and uncertainty in the global economy.
Albanese said he looked forward to the new nations exploring new opportunities in trade, climate change, tourism and culture.
“We’ll also have an opportunity to have a frank and open dialogue that enables us to navigate issues that need to be discussed,” he said.
While Albanese is mending the China-Australia relationship, Taylor called upon Albanese to sign a joint commitment with the U.S. on the security of Taiwan, while they were at odds with China.
This comes as the Financial Times reported that senior U.S. official Elbridge Colby, who was leading the Pentagon's investigation into AUKUS, was pressing Australia and Japan over what role they would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan.
“After over 250 days of this new U.S. administration, we should have seen a face-to-face meeting between the prime minister and the president of the United States, and we should be seeing relationship-building and work going on … around the Aukus alliance, around our strategic alliance more broadly,” Taylor told ABC’s 7.30.
Albanese reiterated the Australian position on the matter.
"I reaffirmed on Taiwan the position of Australia of support for the status quo," he said after the meeting,” he said.
