THE SQUIZ
It wasn’t the 3-hour marathon US President Joe Biden had with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but PM Anthony Albanese’s 32-minute meeting saw the men acknowledge the difficulties in the Australia-China relationship and agree that it’s important things improve. Kicking off the get-together on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Albanese said “We have had our differences, and Australia won’t resile from our interests and values.” And he touched on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, saying the agreed principles of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence “remain important today”. For Xi’s part, he told Albanese that they should “improve, maintain, and develop the relationship between the 2 countries” because it “deserves to be cherished”.

THAT’S NICE. WAS ANY REAL PROGRESS MADE?
Albanese says the sit-down meeting was progress enough. The last Australian leader to hold formal talks with Xi was Malcolm Turnbull in 2016 – and a lot of dirty water has gone under the bridge since then… Last night, Albanese said that it was “not realistic” to expect any “immediate declarations” but he did lay out Australia’s concerns to the powerful Chinese leader. “I put forward Australia’s position when it comes to the blockages in our trading relationship. I put forward the differences that we have on human rights issues, including Xinjiang. I put forward specifically, as well, the cases of Cheng Lei and Dr Yang.” Meanwhile, Xi said he knows that our PM has made “a number of remarks on China-Australia relations on a number of occasions, and have repeatedly said that you will deal with China-Australia relations in a mature manner.” And with a line any boss/parent should earmark for future use with errant underlings, Xi told Albanese: “I attach great importance to your opinion.”

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING AT THE G20?
Cue the topic du jour: Russia’s war on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t in Bali, so with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov watching on, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the meeting via videolink. He’s called for G19 leaders (aka everyone except Russia…) to back his proposed peace plan.  And not long after the address, Russia fired about 100 missiles at cities across Ukraine… There was no mass walkout when Lavrov spoke – which is something that has happened to Russian officials at other big meetings. Earlier yesterday, Indonesian President/host Joko Widodo called for unity and action from those present to address the big issues. “We have no other option – collaboration is needed to save the world. We should not divide the world into parts. We must not allow the world to fall into another cold war,” he said. #SquizShortcut