Anthony Albanese will meet Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 meeting as China prepares for Trump’s trade war

Rio de Janeiro: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 summit on Monday as Beijing looks to shore up support ahead of a looming trade war with the incoming Trump administration.

It will be a run-up to Albanese’s speech to fellow G20 leaders, in which he will demand greater condemnation of the wars in the Middle East and Russia, highlighting their impact on poverty, hunger, high inflation and energy prices.

The meeting with Mr Xi will be the third since Mr Albanese took office, and is expected to cover regional security and climate change, and is part of the Chinese president’s trade-focused diplomatic blitz in South America – first at APEC in Peru and now in Brazil.

Beijing is seeking to strengthen relations as it scrutinizes Donald Trump’s proposed trade agenda, under which the president-elect has pledged to hit Chinese imports with 60 percent tariffs and slap tariffs on goods from elsewhere of up to 20 percent.

Mr Albanese has opposed Mr Trump’s tariff plans, but said it was not about taking sides. He has maintained that Australia can and will work with Beijing and Washington as regional middle powers.

The meeting with Xi comes after Beijing praised Mr Albanese for his “strategic autonomy” amid “unprecedented geopolitical complexity and uncertainty” following Mr Trump’s election.

In a favorable China Daily editorial, Beijing said Mr. Albanese should serve as a role model for other U.S. allies seeking balance in relations with China and a second Trump administration.

When asked about the approval, Mr Albanese said he was “not subscribed to the China Daily” and said he was working with Australia’s best interests in mind.

“What I have done with China is work in the way we promised before the election. We said we would cooperate where we can, disagree where necessary, and advance our national interests. I did that without compromising Australia’s national interests,” he said on Friday.

He said Australia’s partnership with the US was strong and lasting, but emphasized the economic importance of the relationship with China.

In addition to meeting Mr Xi, Mr Albanese will also meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and EU President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

He will next intervene at the G20, outlining Australia’s commitment to open trade and agricultural sustainability as crucial elements in the fight against hunger and poverty.

In his speech, he will call for greater climate action and more urgent efforts to end conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“As we grapple with the major geopolitical and global economic challenges facing our countries, we must never lose sight of their impact on our citizens and their daily lives,” he will say.

He will say that “in times of global unrest, it is always those who have the least who are most affected” and will point to the “shocking loss of innocent lives” in the Middle East and the suffering of Ukrainians.

“The G20 is another crucial opportunity for the international community to call for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East, and to condemn the illegal and immoral actions of Russia and North Korea,” he will say .

“There is a direct link between these conflicts and a global increase in inflation and energy prices. We must (also) be very clear about the link between international conflict and global hunger.”

It comes after Biden approved the use of long-range missiles for Ukraine after the North Korean intervention marked a turning point in the conflict.