Extract from ABC News
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has invited US President Joe Biden to address federal parliament when he visits Australia for the Quad Leaders' Summit in Australia next year.
Key points:
- Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden spoke for 40 minutes at the East Asia Summit
- The US president will be in Australia for the Quad Leaders' Summit next year
- It is still unclear if Mr Albanese will meet with China's president
The pair met on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, spending 40 minutes with each other — a significant amount of time, given the packed schedules of world leaders at such summits.
"We talked as well about regional security, we talked about Ukraine, and we talked about supply chain issues as well and the impact that various global events are having on that," Mr Albanese said.
"We discussed the Quad meeting that we will host next year and I invited, of course, the president — we will finalise the dates of the Quad leaders meeting.
"And... I've invited the President to address a joint sitting of parliament, as well, if it can be worked out with his diary."
The Quad group comprises Australia, the United States, Japan and India, and is seen as a strategic partnership to counter China's ambition in the Asia Pacific.
While a meeting with Mr Biden was always likely at either the East Asia Summit or the upcoming G20 and APEC meetings, an opportunity to sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping is still up in the air.
Earlier Mr Biden said he knew Mr Xi well, and that he has always "had straightforward discussions with him".
"There's never any miscalculation about where each of us stand," he said.
When asked whether Mr Biden gave him any tips on what the Chinese leader might want to discuss, Mr Albanese deflected.
"I'll leave President Biden to comment about what President Biden might talk about with President Xi, as you would expect.
"We'll engage constructively with dialogue with countries that wish to engage with us, and I've said that we should cooperate with China where we can and that's what we're doing."
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