Canberra:

Australia’s Prime Minister said Wednesday a string of recent non-disclosed missions to the United States helped to forge the plea deal that freed Julian Assange.

The 52-year-old WikiLeaks founder landed in Canberra hours earlier, after earning his liberty by pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate US national defence information.

He was sentenced by a court in the US Pacific territory of Northern Mariana Islands to time already served in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison — five years and two months — and allowed to walk free.

The US Department of Justice had to make a “range of decisions” for the plea deal to proceed, Anthony Albanese told a news conference in Canberra, stressing that the US department was independent and “not subject to political influence”.

A “whole range of people” had visited the United States as the deal was worked out, the Australian leader told reporters.

“I am surprised that some of it was missed by the people in this room — some of the visits — but it’s not up to me to indicate that,” Albanese said.

He advised journalists to “go back and look at some diaries and who has travelled to the United States in recent months”.

Albanese said he had exchanged “directly” with Assange’s lawyers during the negotiations.

Australia’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Stephen Smith, also acted as a conduit for communication, visiting Assange in Belmarsh, the prime minister said.

“The details of the plea deal were worked through over a period of time,” he said.

“This was the only way that I could see a resolution being achieved — and the objective here was to conclude these matters.”

Albanese said he had never met with Assange but spoke with him the moment his jet touched down in Canberra as part of a mutually agreed plan.

“I had a very warm discussion with him this evening. He was very generous in his praise of the Australian government’s efforts,” he added.

“The Australian government stands up for Australian citizens. That’s what we do.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on November 1 he will raise the plight of a detained democracy blogger with Chinese leaders during a state visit to China.

Mr. Albanese said he had approved a draft letter to the sons of Yang Hengjun, who has been detained in China since 2019.

“We’re very sympathetic and understand the concerns that they would have for their father and for this Australian who has been detained now for a long period of time,” Mr. Albanese told reporters.

The sons have made public a letter to Mr. Albanese, dated October 28, that said there was a “narrow window of opportunity” before Mr. Albanese left for China to secure their father’s freedom.

“We ask that you make it clear that it is not possible to stabilise the bilateral relationship with a government that is holding an Australian citizen just a few kilometres south of where you will be hosted,” the brothers added, referring to Beijing.

They said they had just last week received the first letter Yang had been allowed to send from detention. Yang wrote: “I’m sick, I’m weak, I’m dying.” Yang, who once worked for China’s Ministry of State Security, is still awaiting a verdict from his closed-door trial on espionage charges in May 2021.

His sons are 24 and 31 years old. Family friend Feng Chongyi said the sons had not been publicly identified because they feared Chinese retaliation for their father’s activities. Feng said Mr. Albanese becoming the first Australian Prime Minister in seven years to visit China created an opportunity for Yang.

“It’s not the last chance, but it’s the best chance,” Feng said. “The visit symbolises the complete normalisation of relations between the two countries.” Mr. Albanese’s visit that begins on Saturday is a sign that bilateral relations have improved since his centre-left government was elected last year following nine years of conservative rule.

Mr. Albanese will meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai during the three-day visit.

Mr. Albanese raised the plights of Yang and another detained Australian, journalist Cheng Lei, in his first meeting with Xi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia a year ago. Cheng was deported last month in what many saw as Beijing clearing the way for Mr. Albanese’s visit.

Yang’s sons wrote that said they had been “inspired by the wonderful news” of Cheng’s release. They hoped Australian authorities could “achieve a second miracle by saving our father”. Asked about Cheng’s case, Mr. Albanese told reporters: “Every case is … different.”

President Joe Biden and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on, Oct. 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden has said that he is convinced that one of the reasons why Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel was because of the recent announcement during the G-20 Summit in New Delhi on the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that integrates the entire region with a network of railroad.

Israel has launched a massive counter-offensive against Hamas after unprecedented attacks by the militant group on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people.

Mr. Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his analysis is based on his instinct and does not have any proof for this.

“I’m convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind,” Mr. Biden said.

This is the second time in less than a week that Mr. Biden has mentioned the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) as a potential reason for the terrorist attack by Hamas.

The new economic corridor, which many see as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was jointly announced by the leaders of the U.S., India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in September.

The corridor comprises an eastern corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a northern corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe.

Mr. Biden said in the past few weeks, he has spoken to leaders throughout the region, including King Abdullah of Jordan, President Sisi of Egypt, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about making sure there’s real hope in the region for a better future about the need to work toward a greater integration for Israel while insisting that the aspirations of the Palestinian people will be part, will be part of that future as well.

Australian PM Anthony Albanese to visit China before he flies to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will visit China in early November, making the announcement Sunday hours before he was to fly to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden.

Mr. Albanese also said China agreed late Saturday to review the crippling tariffs it levied on Australian wine that have effectively blocked trade with the winemakers’ biggest export market since 2020.

Mr. Albanese will become the first Australian Prime Minister to visit China in seven years when he travels to Beijing and Shanghai on November. 4-7.

“It’s in Australia’s interest to have good relations with China, and certainly though my focus in the coming days will be very much on the visit to the United States,” Mr. Albanese told reporters at Australian Parliament House.

“With Australia’s closest partner, talking about the future of our alliance, the future which has been upgraded by the AUKUS arrangements, a future based upon our common values, our commitment to democracy, and our commitment to the international rule of law and stable order throughout the globe,” Mr. Albanese added, using the acronym for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Under the trilateral pact, the U.S. and Britain will cooperate to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology to counter a more assertive China.

Mr. Albanese said he will meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and then attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The visit to China and a potential breakthrough in the wine dispute mark a further repair in relations since Mr. Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won elections last year after nine years of conservative government in Australia.

China has agreed to review its tariffs on Australian wine over five months, Mr. Albanese’s office said. In return, Australia has suspended its complaint against its free trade partner to the World Trade Organisation.

A similar dispute resolution plan led to China removing tariffs from Australian barley.

Mr. Albanese said reopening the Chinese wine market would be worth more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($631 million) to exporters.

“We’re very confident that this will result in once again Australian wine, a great product, being able to go to China free of the tariffs which have been imposed by China,” Mr. Albanese said.

“It is important that we stabilise our relationship with China. That is in the interests of Australia and China, and it is indeed in the interests of the world that we have stable relations and that is what this visit will represent,” he added.

The visit will come near the 50th anniversary of Labor Party leader Gough Whitlam becoming the first Australian prime minister to visit the People’s Republic of China in 1973.

Mr. Albanese accepted an invitation weeks ago to visit China this year, but finding suitable dates had been challenging.

Mr. Albanese is visiting Washington to meet with Biden this week and will return to the United States after his China trip to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ forum in San Francisco on Nov. 15-17.

It will be the ninth time Mr. Biden has met with Mr. Albanese as prime minister. The first meeting was in Tokyo hours after Mr. Albanese was sworn in as government leader in May last year for a leaders’ summit of the Quad strategic partnership that also includes Japan and India.

As well as the AUKUS deal, the leaders will also seek more cooperation on clean energy, critical minerals and climate change.

Mr. Albanese’s department announced Friday that it decided after an investigation not to cancel a Chinese company’s 99-year lease on the strategically important Darwin Port despite U.S. concerns the foreign control could be used to spy on its military forces.

Some security analysts interpreted the decision to let Shandong Landbridge Group keep the lease signed in 2015 and long criticized by Mr. Albanese as a concession to China ahead of his visit.

China’s release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei this month after she spent three years in detention in Beijing on espionage allegations was widely seen as a concession to Australia.

Mr. Albanese said the breakthrough on wine “has not been transactional,” meaning Australia did not make any corresponding concessions to Chinese demands.

“We’ll continue to put our case on matters that are in Australia’s national interest,” he said.

“I’ve said very consistently: We’ll cooperate with China where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll engage in our national interest, and that’s precisely what we’re doing,” he added.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Australia’s Prime Minister will visit China in early November to meet President Xi Jinping, Canberra confirmed Sunday, as the two trading partners work to repair a once-frosty relationship.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese locked in the trip — from November 4 to November 7 — after China agreed to suspend a festering World Trade Organisation dispute sparked by hefty tariffs on Australian wine.

“I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship,” Mr. Albanese said in a statement.

“I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market.”

China slapped hefty tariffs on key Australian exports such as barley, beef and wine in 2020, flexing its economic muscle at the height of a bitter dispute with Australia’s former conservative government.

But many of these barriers have been slowly wound back as Australia’s centre-left government — elected in May last year — has adopted a less confrontational approach.

There has also been progress on diplomatic fronts, with China earlier this month agreeing to free Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was detained for more than three years on murky espionage charges.

Mr. Albanese’s trip would be the first to China by an Australian Prime Minister since 2016.

“I look forward to engaging with President Xi and Premier Li in Australia’s national interest,” Mr. Albanese added.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during the bilateral meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 7, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Australia’s Prime Minister confirmed on September 7 he will visit China later this year after talks with China’s premier, who said Beijing was ready to resume bilateral exchanges after years of friction.

The announcement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of a Southeast Asia summit in Indonesia came after a years-long break in relations over political and economic issues including Chinese sanctions on Australian imports.

“I… confirmed the invitation from President Xi,” Mr. Albanese told reporters after talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, adding he “will visit China later this year at a mutually agreeable time”.

The trip would be the first to China by an Australian Prime Minister since 2016.

Mr. Li told Mr. Albanese China was ready to work with Australia to resume exchanges in different areas, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported, without mentioning specific areas.

He said the Asia-Pacific region was the shared home of both countries and Beijing would work with Australia to safeguard peace and stability in the region, according to Xinhua.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing welcomed the planned visit and that “a healthy and stable China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples”.

Mr. Albanese thanked President Xi Jinping for the invitation and said his talks with Mr. Li were “constructive” and “positive”, adding the two countries needed more dialogue to improve relations.

“This was an important meeting. I told Premier Li that we would continue to cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest,” he said.

Mr. Albanese last met Mr. Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in November.

Australian delegation in China

Australia sent a delegation of industry, government, academic, media and arts representatives to Beijing on Thursday for talks with their Chinese counterparts.

Such exchanges were stopped in 2020 and their resumption is the latest sign of a thaw.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said last week those renewed discussions illustrated “another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilising our relationship with China”.

China was angered by Australia’s legislation against overseas influence operations, its ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from 5G contracts, and its call for an independent investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But relations appear to have warmed since the centre-left government in Canberra adopted a less confrontational approach to China following Mr. Albanese’s election victory last year.

However, issues remain in the relationship.

Australia expressed “deep concerns” last month about the “ongoing delays” in the case of an Australian academic jailed in China on espionage charges.

Chinese-born Australian Yang Jun has been jailed since 2019 and said in a note shared with friends and family last month that he feared dying in prison if he did not receive medical attention.

Beijing said it was handling his case properly, and that it was “a country ruled by law”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during the Yes23 official campaign launch in Adelaide on August 30, 2023. Mr. Albanese announced that Australians will vote on October 14 in a referendum that would enshrine in the nation’s Constitution a mechanism for Indigenous people to advise Parliament on policies that effect their lives known as the Voice.
| Photo Credit: AP

Australians will vote on October 14 on a proposed law to create a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the nation’s first referendum in a generation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday announced the referendum date, triggering just over six weeks of intensifying campaigning by both sides of the argument.

Explained | Australia’s referendum to include an Indigenous ‘Voice’ in its Constitution

The referendum would enshrine in the Constitution an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a collection of advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.

Mr. Albanese urged people to vote “yes” as polls showed more than 80% of Australia’s Indigenous population — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples — intended to do so.

“Let’s be very clear about the alternative: because voting ‘no’ leads nowhere. It means nothing changes,” Mr. Albanese told 400 Voice supporters in the city of Adelaide.

“Voting ‘no’ closes the door on this opportunity to move forward. I say today, don’t close the door on constitutional recognition, don’t close the door on listening to communities to get better results. Don’t close the door on an idea that came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves, and don’t close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote ‘yes,” Mr. Albanese added.

Australia has not held a referendum since 1999 and a referendum has not passed since 1977.

No referendum has ever passed without bipartisan support and the major parties remain divided over the Voice.

Proponents argue that giving Indigenous people a say in policies that effect their lives would lead to less disadvantage.

Indigenous Australians account for 3.8% of population and they die around eight years younger than Australia’s wider population.

Proponents say there would be no Indigenous right of veto over government policy and lawmakers would be free to disregard the Voice’s representations.

But opponents argue the courts might interpret the Voice’s constitutional powers in unpredictable ways, creating legal uncertainty. They also say the Voice would be the biggest ever change in Australia’s democracy that would divide the nation along racial lines.

Mr. Albanese has long maintained his confidence that the referendum would succeed despite opinion polls showing that the marginal majority support for the Voice has waned in recent months as the public debate has become more heated and divisive.

Voice proponents complain that social media companies have not done enough to exclude racial abuse from the argument.

Opponents including Opposition leader Peter Dutton, Australia’s alternative Prime Minister, argue the system is stacked in favour of the “yes” vote.

“Just make it a fair process instead of trying to load the system and trying to skew it in favour of the ‘yes’ vote,” Mr. Dutton said.

The system requires voters to write “yes” or “no” on their ballot. But the Australian Electoral Commission, which runs federal elections and referendums, has said it will accept a tick as an affirmative vote, but a cross would be an invalid vote.

Opponents of the Voice want crosses to be added to the “no” tally.

Voice advocates accuse Mr. Dutton of attempting to undermine faith in the voting system.

The commission said the ruling that a cross would be open to interpretation and therefore invalid had been unchanged since 1988. The proportion of invalid votes, including those marked with crosses, at the last referendum was only 0.86% of the ballots cast, the commission said.

Most observers agree that the referendum result is unlikely to turn on the tiny proportion of ballots marked with crosses.

The commission has begun distributing 13 million pamphlets to households with arguments penned by lawmakers for and against the Voice. They will be delivered to Australia’s population is 26 million by mid September.

Opponents also accuse the government of failing to provide sufficient detail about who will be part of the Voice and how it will work.

“If you don’t know, vote ‘no,” No campaigners urge uncertain voters.

While some opponents argue the Voice proposal is too radical, others argue that it is not radical enough.

Independent Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe told the National Press Club this month that the Voice would be a “powerless advisory body” that insulted the intelligence of Indigenous Australians.

She urged Mr. Albanese to call off the referendum, saying its failure would expose Australia as a racist country.

Mr. Albanese agreed that the result of the referendum would effect international perceptions of Australia.

“It’s … about how Australians see ourselves, but also how the world sees Australia,” Mr. Albanese said in April.