Australia's new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday said the country's relationship with China would remain "a difficult one", before leaving for a QUAD summit in Japan with US President Joe Biden and leaders of Japan and India.
"It is China that has changed, not Australia, and Australia should always stand up for our values and we will in a government that I lead," Albanese said during a media briefing, after taking charge as the country's 31st Prime Minister.
Australia's relations with China, its largest trading partner, are at a low ebb after they clashed over a number of issues including trade, the origins of the coronavirus and accusations from Australia of foreign interference.
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Albanese was sworn in as Australia's Prime Minister on Monday after his Labor Party was voted back into power at the weekend, following nine years in opposition.
He would attend a meeting of the QUAD security grouping on Tuesday.
India, the US, Japan and Australia are members of the QUAD - an informal group Washington has been promoting to work as a potential bulwark against China's increasing political, commercial and military activity in the Indo-Pacific.
