Prime minister Morrison called his meeting with Chinese premier li keqiang “honest” and “candid,” but was not satisfied with the “grim” nature of the talks. The premier met li keqiang on the sidelines of the southeast Asia summit in Thailand. “There is a frank recognition that we are quite different countries.” Morrison told reporters in Bangkok on Monday.
“We are a liberal democracy, they are a communist country. We do not seek to adopt their system and they do not seek to adopt ours.” It comes just days after China publicly lashed out at Australia’s foreign minister for criticizing China’s human rights record. The Australian prime minister has not met with Chinese President xi jinping in three years, and Morrison was coy about whether the meeting between the Australian prime minister and xi would send an important signal to repair relations between China and Australia.
“I’m less interested in symbolism and more interested in action and the real value of the relationship.” He said. The prime minister said he addressed difficult issues during his 45-minute meeting with Mr. Li, including detained chinese-australian writer Yang hengjun in Beijing.
