Tag: Li Qiang

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Australia, China agree to ‘manage differences’

The visit by Li Qiang marks the first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years and demonstrates a further thawing of the once-frosty ties between the two nations

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Annual Leaders’ Meeting in Canberra on Monday. Terming his talks with Albanese as “candid, in-depth and fruitful,” Li said they also exchanged views on some differences and disagreements between the two countries and agreed to manage them properly.

The visit by Li marks the first visit to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years and demonstrates a further thawing of the once-frosty ties between the two nations, ABC News reported.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Li Qiang said that the two sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and strengthen exchanges between the legislatures, government departments and political parties between the two countries.

Li Qiang said, “Just now, Prime Minister Albanese and I had a candid, in depth and fruitful meeting and reached a lot of consensus. We both agreed to uphold the right characterisation of our bilateral relationship and consolidate its momentum of improvement and development. We reaffirmed our commitment to defining this relationship as a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, to mutual respect and trust and to viewing and handling this relationship in a positive attitude.”

“The two sides agreed to maintain high-level interactions, strengthen exchanges between the legislatures, government departments and political parties and fully resume various areas of institutional dialogue and bring their role into full play. We also had a candid exchange of views of some differences and disagreements and agreed to properly manage them in a manner befitting our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” he said

The Chinese Premier said that Australia and China signed several cooperation documents on trade, education, climate change, culture and intellectual property. Li said China and Australia will make good use of such dialogue mechanisms like Strategy Economic Dialogue, the joint Ministerial Economic Commission and the Free Trade Agreement Committee to address each other’s economic and trade concerns and provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment for companies.

Australian PM Albanese termed the talks as “constructive” and stressed that the two nations cannot address differences without talks.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Albanese said, “We had a constructive discussion today at our Annual Leaders’ Meeting, building on our Annual Meeting last year in Beijing. My government has put dialogue at the centre of Australia’s relationship with China because it is always most effective when we deal directly with each other.”

“That’s how we make progress on our shared interests and protect regional stability. Without dialogue, we can’t address any of the differences that arise between us. Australia and China have renewed and revitalised our engagement. We’ve agreed across a range of MoUs and arrangements today that will continue to shape and drive our practical cooperation as we continue the process of stabilising the relationship,” he added.

Albanese also extended a welcome to the Chinese Premier in Canberra. In a post on X, Albanese stated, “Welcome to Canberra, Premier Li Qiang.”

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday arrived in Australia for an official visit, Xinhua reported. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong received him at the airport. He arrived in Australia after his official visit to New Zealand as part of his three-nation visit. (ANI)

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-Top News China UK News

Sunak challenges premier Li after ‘spying for China’ arrests

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak holds a bilateral meeting with China Premier Li Qiang at the G20

The prime minister has also refused to rule out inviting China to his summit on artificial intelligence later this year…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak has challenged the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, over Chinese interference in the UK parliament, after two men were arrested amid allegations that a parliamentary researcher had spied for Beijing.

The prime minister met Li on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi in an unplanned meeting hours after the Sunday Times revealed the researcher, who is understood to have had links to senior Conservative MPs, had been arrested along with another man.

After the meeting, Sunak said: “I obviously can’t comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation but with regard to my meeting with Premier Li what I said very specifically is that I raised a range of different concerns that we have in areas of disagreement, and in particular, my very strong concerns about any interference in our parliamentary democracy, which is obviously unacceptable.

“We discussed a range of things and I raised areas where there are disagreements. And this is just part of our strategy to protect ourselves, protect our values and our interests, to align our approach to China with that of our allies like America, Australia, Canada, Japan and others, but also to engage where it makes sense.”

According to Chinese media, Li told Sunak the two countries “should properly handle disagreements, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns”.

The meeting had not been scheduled, but was confirmed on Sunday morning after news of the arrests broke. The issue was the first thing Sunak raised during their 20-minute encounter, to which Li responded that the two countries had “differences in opinion”.

The pair also spoke about trade, Ukraine and artificial intelligence. They did not talk in detail about the AI summit in the UK later this year, however, despite reports that Britain had issued an invitation to China to attend.

Last month, James Cleverly became the first foreign secretary in five years to visit China and said during the visit that it would not be “credible” to disengage with Beijing.

Sunak, meanwhile, has angered China hawks in his own party by refusing to say the country is a threat to Britain. He said earlier this year: “I don’t think it’s kind of smart or sophisticated foreign policy to reduce our relationship with China – which after all is a country with one and a half billion people, the second biggest economy, and member of the UN security council.”

The prime minister has also refused to rule out inviting China to his summit on artificial intelligence later this year.

The latest row over Chinese espionage at the heart of British democracy risks damaging any detente between the two countries, however.

The Sunday Times said the researcher, who is in his 20s, and another man in his 30s had been arrested in March. The man, who is a UK citizen, reportedly had links to Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, and Tom Tugendhat, the security minister.

Officers from the Metropolitan police’s counter terrorism command, which oversees espionage-related offences, are investigating.

The man in his 30s was arrested in Oxfordshire on 13 March , while the man in his 20s was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland Yard said. Both were held on suspicion of offences under section one of the Official Secrets Act 1911, which punishes offences that are said to be “prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state”.

“Searches were also carried out at both the residential properties, as well as at a third address in east London,” a statement from the force said. Both men were held at a south London police station until being bailed until early October.

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-Top News Asia News China

Li Qiang appointed new premier of China

Chinese President Xi Jinping nominated Li Qiang for the post of premier during the ongoing first session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

China’s Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang became the new premier on Saturday after being nominated for the post during a session of the 14th National People’s Congress, Global Times reported.

Earlier today, Chinese President Xi Jinping nominated Li Qiang for the post of premier during the ongoing first session of the 14th National People’s Congress. Li Qiang will replace Li Keqiang, who became premier in 2013 with high hopes that he would usher in liberal reforms. But his power was curbed by Xi, who increasingly sidelined Li Keqiang and placed allies in key strategic positions over him.

Yesterday, Keqiang took his final bow as the country’s premier, marking a shift away from the skilled technocrats who have helped steer the world’s second-biggest economy in favour of officials known mainly for their unquestioned loyalty to China’s most powerful leader in recent history, the Voice of America (VOA) reported.

After exiting the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee in October, despite being below retirement age, Li’s last major task was delivering the state of the nation address to the rubber-stamp parliament on Monday. The report sought to reassure citizens of the resiliency of the Chinese economy but contained little that was new.

Xi Jinping was unanimously elected Chinese president on Friday at the ongoing session of China’s national legislature. (Photo: Xinhua)

Li Qiang, who joined the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee in October, is considered a novice in China’s complex central government administration encompassing 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, according to Nikkei Asia.

The 63-year-old politician served for four decades in his home province of Zhejiang and became a secretary to Xi when the latter was a top official in that industrial region in eastern China.

Li was later promoted to become party boss of Jiangsu and later Shanghai, where his reputation plunged during the financial centre’s gruelling two-month COVID lockdown last year.

Even so, Li is rising to become the second most powerful Chinese official after Xi in the country’s intricate system of governance.

As per Nikkei Asia, Li earned a degree in executive business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2005, decades after he graduated from Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1982.

Meanwhile, Zhang Youxia and He Weidong were nominated as candidates for vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reported Global Times. (ANI)

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