MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he discussed Australia’s critical-minerals deal with the United States and the hostile maneuvers of a Chinese warplane during a “positive” meeting on Monday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Albanese and China’s second-most senior leader held a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ summit.

“Once again, it was a positive meeting,” Albanese told reporters of his seventh meeting with Li.

“This is a relationship that has improved; that is stabilising,” Albanese added.

China has removed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers since Albanese’s center-left government was first elected in 2022. The barriers imposed in 2020 when Beijing banne

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