Anthony Albanese has promised Australia will step up to help Vietnam transition to clean energy as part of a diplomatic push to cement the friendship between the two nations.
The prime minister sat down with his Vietnamese counterpart Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, as well as the Communist Party general secretary, the president and the chairman of the national assembly.
Following the bilateral meeting on his final day of a whirlwind tour of the region, Mr Albanese announced a $105 million package to allow Australia to work with Vietnam on combating climate change.
The funding will support sustainable infrastructure planning, stimulate private investment in clean energy infrastructure and provide assistance for Vietnam to develop its critical mineral sector.
“It is through our people coming together that we unleash our best ideas and we forge our deepest bonds,” Mr Albanese said.
“All of this connection and cooperation comes together in our plans to elevate our relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership … to signal the trust that we have in each other as top-tier partners and enduring friends.”
But the issue of Vietnam’s relationship with China was also tipped to be high on the leader’s meeting agenda.
Last week, Vietnam accused a Chinese survey vessel and its escorts of violating its sovereignty amid a territorial dispute involving the South China Sea.
Mr Albanese said Australia and Vietnam shared the same views on the South China Sea, and maritime laws in the region needed to be maintained.
“The prime minister and I discussed our shared vision of an open, stable, secure, prosperous and resilient Indo-Pacific that is respectful of national sovereignty,” he said.
Although this was his first visit to Vietnam as prime minister, Mr Albanese noted he had travelled there three times before.
He made sure to fit in a banh mi and beer in Hanoi before participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the resting place of the country’s communist revolutionary leader.
On Sunday, Mr Albanese was welcomed to the Presidential Palace by a guard of honour and schoolchildren who waved flags.
He will later attend an official dinner hosted by Prime Minister Chinh before he returns to Australia.
On Saturday, Defence Minister Richard Marles met with his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu in Singapore after Mr Albanese delivered a major foreign policy speech in which he called out the risks from any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in Taiwan or the South China Sea by force.
Mr Marles admitted Australia was “walking a line” in addressing a more aggressive China while also trying to improve trade and diplomatic relations with Beijing.
“We have been able to make clear to China our anxieties – and there are clearly a number,” he told Sky News.
“We are seeing a very significant military build-up, which is not being accompanied by strategic reassurance and we have expressed our concern about that.”
Mr Marles said Australia was trying to lead by example in having a defence dialogue with China to ensure there were no “misunderstandings” as Beijing and Washington also worked to improve their relationship.
Australian Associated Press