Anthony Albanese has arrived in Laos, where he will today meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.
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00:00This will be the fifth time the Prime Minister has met with Premier Li, and the regularity
00:05of these meetings has been pointed to as a sign of stability in the Australia-China relationship.
00:11But despite some progress in areas like trade, there are still key points of concern that
00:15remain to be discussed.
00:17China's recent test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific raised
00:21concerns, there's ongoing trade blockages with Australian lobsters, and the continued
00:26detention of Australian writer Yang Hengjun.
00:29Anthony Albanese was asked what his message will be going into today's meeting.
00:33My message will be a consistent one, which is that we'll cooperate where we can, we'll
00:39disagree where we must, and we'll have some direct discussions about some of the disagreements
00:44that are there, but also that it is in our interest to communicate with China, which
00:50is our largest trading partner.
00:52Anthony Albanese arrives in Laos at a time with plenty going on in global affairs, from
00:57conflict in the Middle East, to the looming US election.
01:00Those issues will loom large over this summit, and the Prime Minister's meetings around it.
01:05But some constant issues in this region, like tensions over the South China Sea, and the
01:10ongoing fallout from the coup in Myanmar, will still dominate discussions.
01:14While few expect substantial progress, some point to simply having key players in the
01:19room as a mark of success.
01:21The Prime Minister will also meet with leaders from Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand
01:26and Canada over the next two days.
01:28But his meeting with Premier Lee is top of the agenda, and could set the tone for the
01:32rest of this trip.