Xi Jinping praises Anthony Albanese because the Chinese president does something no one expected

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared his high-level talks with Xi Jinping “very successful” as his visit was hailed by the Chinese president as heralding a new era in relations.

The Prime Minister met with the Chinese President at the Great Hall of the People for over an hour on Monday evening.

Mr Xi gave a rare smile and a warm handshake as he greeted Mr Albanese at China’s seat of power.

The Chinese leader said Beijing and Canberra had “resolved a number of issues”, pointing to contentious issues including human rights, the escalation of threats against Taiwan and trade bans on Australian exports worth $20 billion at their peak.

In his opening speech, Mr Xi praised the Prime Minister for his efforts to stabilize and improve relations with China.

“Now the relationship between China and Australia has entered the right path of improvement and development,” the Chinese leader told the Australian delegation.

‘I find it heartwarming to see that.

“A healthy and stable relationship with China serves the common interests of our two countries and two peoples.”

Mr Albanese described the meeting as ‘warm’ and ‘very successful’.

“What we have done is continue to put forward Australia’s position in a principled way, in a clear way, but in a way that has not tried to widen differences to score a political point,” he said.

The prime minister will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday, where he will be ceremonially received on the last day of his trip to China.

Mr Albanese is the first Australian Prime Minister to visit China since 2016, when Malcolm Turnbull visited as leader.

The former prime minister said while the federal government had taken steps, China was looking for ways to reset the relationship.

“(China’s) exercise of coercive control failed… it did not result in any change in Australian policy, and has actually led to us moving closer to our ally the United States,” Turnbull told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“China then needed an exit, and the obvious exit was a change of government.

Mr Turnbull said the relationship between the two countries was on more stable footing.

‘Australia has withstood that (economic) pressure. “China has realized that this doesn’t work, and we’ve moved to a more stable, more normal, more conventional relationship, and that’s good,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said relations with China are in better shape than a year ago.

“The Prime Minister went to this meeting not necessarily expecting to come back with a bag of goodies, but … there have been significant successes for Australia in the form of new exports and jobs for Australians,” he told ABC Radio.

“We would always strive to make the most of every possible market, and China, even with these barriers, has remained Australia’s largest agricultural market in recent years.

Assistant Secretary of State Tim Watts said the meeting between Albanese and Xi was already an important step forward.

“Dialogue is the sign of success… we said we would stabilize the relationship with China without compromising our national interest and that is exactly what we have done,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

“Our calm and consistent approach is delivering wins for the Australian people. Dialogue allows us to find those areas of cooperation and also gives us the channel to express concerns.”