Why Xi Jinping meeting Australian PM Anthony Albanese is important

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping today (November 15) in Bali, Indonesia, during the G20 Summit.

"We enter this discussion with goodwill. There are no preconditions to this discussion. I am looking forward to having constructive dialogue," Albanese told the media.

Why is it important? It is the first meeting between leaders of the two nations after years of strained ties and the first face-to-face talk between Australia and China in five years.

The last Australian Prime Minister Xi met was Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in June 2017.

Why Australia-China relations deteriorated: The diplomatic ties between Australia and China touched a new low in recent years after Beijing imposed sanctions on some imports of Australian goods and Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 virus.

Beijing's major issue remains Australia's ban on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei's involvement in Australian 5G networks on national security grounds, reported AP.

We're in the fastest growing region in the world.

And my government is working hard to make sure Australian businesses and workers can be part of that growth.

- with @JEChalmers pic.twitter.com/uVZkQqqIJU

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 14, 2022

Conflict in the Asia-Pacific region: Even though China is still Australia's largest trading partner, the relations between the two countries have also soured because of China's rising ambitions and its behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recently, Beijing's ambitions in the Pacific have riled Canberra, as have China's arrests of Australians, including journalist Cheng Lei, reported AFP.

G20 Summit in Bali: The two-day summit in Indonesia's Bali began today (November 15) morning and is being attended by heads from 20 countries and the European Union.

The summit is a good platform for leaders from different countries to also hold bilateral meeting and solve disputes