Sydney - Middle East Times Int’l: AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister has welcomed the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden at the APEC Leaders Summit in San Francisco.

“It's very positive that President Biden and President Xi have been able to meet. It was fortunate that I was able to have discussions with both presidents about their meeting and about what might be discussed as well when I was in Washington DC and in Beijing.”

PM Albanese stressed the need to have guardrails in place “to make sure that we don't have misunderstandings or miscalculations that could lead to real issues and real conflict”.

“We need to make sure that we put in place things that ensure that that can't occur,” he said.

“As President Biden has said, it is crucial that strategic competition does not veer into conflict. And that's what guardrails are about.

“I welcome the meeting. In itself, it is a very important step forward.”

PM Albanese also said he has spoken to US officials about the violence in Gaza.

“We have said very clearly that Israel has a right to defend itself but how it defends itself matters as well,” he said.

“We do need to I think, begin to have discussions about what happens in the future in that region, in Gaza. We know that Hamas is not a potential partner for peace … so we need to have those discussions and clearly the international community will have a role to play.”