Albanese Backs Trump, Xi and Putin Summit as European Leaders Urge Caution on Ukraine

Australia has thrown its support behind this week's landmark meeting between Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in China, even as European leaders caution that the US president must not give away major ground on the war in Ukraine.

The three leaders are expected to gather in Shenzhen during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has likened the event to the 1945 Yalta conference, has warned the talks must not produce a new carve-up of influence among world powers or abandon his country, now more than four years into the war triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion.

Speaking in Manila on Sunday, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he welcomed the talks while insisting the clear message to Putin was that the war should end. "We think that dialogue is a good thing and we await the outcome of that dialogue," he said. "We want to see something constructive come out of that, including we want to see a de-escalation in the conflicts around the world."

Albanese, who is in the Philippines ahead of a Quad leaders meeting and discussions with south-east Asian counterparts at the Asean summit, said Trump's attendance at both Asean and Apec added to the significance of the diplomatic week.

The tone from Europe has been far more guarded. German chancellor Friedrich Merz told an EU leaders meeting on Friday: "I want to state our message to the US very clearly once again: please, no surprises. Stay on Team Europe and Team Ukraine, and let us work together for a genuine peace in Ukraine." French president Emmanuel Macron warned against forcing "an unjust peace" on Ukraine and, by extension, all of Europe. "That is the spirit of defeat," Macron said. "That is a recipe for another war."

Zelenskyy has said the gathering must not turn into "Yalta 2, 3, 4", invoking the Crimea conference where US president Franklin D Roosevelt, Britain's Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin divided influence across war-ravaged Europe. Historian Timothy Garton Ash has called the trilateral summit, organised after a proposal by Putin last month, "a sort of parody" of Yalta, although analysts say decisions on Ukraine's future or China's ambitions to take control of Taiwan without those parties involved are unlikely.

Albanese argued the summit would not undercut the growing push by countries including Australia and Canada for middle powers to wield greater influence in world affairs. "We'll continue to engage with like-minded countries," he said. "There are two super powers in the world. What's important about the struggle of the people of Ukraine is that they're not just standing up for their own sovereignty; they're standing up for the international rule of law."

Asked whether he would join the so-called family photo of Apec leaders if Putin took part, Albanese said he would consider the wishes of China as host nation, but said the Russian president should be in no doubt about Australia's opposition to the invasion. "If he's in a room where I am, I'm sure they'll hear my contribution," he said. Australia has taken a firmer stance before: after a G20 foreign ministers meeting, foreign minister Penny Wong joined European and Canadian counterparts in avoiding a group photo, which US officials cancelled when a third of participants declined to stand alongside Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

While in Manila, Albanese signed a new defence agreement with the Philippines and visited the supply ship HMAS Stalwart in the Port of Manila. Australia is helping to strengthen the Philippines' defensive capability against Chinese aggression, and further freedom-of-navigation naval exercises are planned to counter Beijing's efforts to influence the South and East China seas.