It would be “absurd” for the trans-Pacific trade pact to accept China into its fold, Coalition senator James Paterson said.

The opposition’s cyber security and countering foreign interference spokesman said Anthony Albanese’s trip to China marked an important step in stabilising the relationship but warned: “We have to be honest.”

Overnight in Shanghai, ahead of his meeting with Xi Jinping, the Prime Minister left the door open to China’s future membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for trans-Pacific Partnership.

It came as Chinese Premier Li Qiang, opening the China International Import Expo, said China would “actively pursue” entry into the partnership.

Mr Albanese warned that China must demonstrate the highest possible trade standards if it were to join the bloc.

Senator Paterson said China’s track record with trade needed to be kept at the forefront.

“In my view, it would be absurd to admit as a member of one of the highest standard agreements in the world a country which until recently had engaged in up to $20bn of economic sanctions against the bilateral free trade agreement,” he told ABC Radio.

“If the Chinese government is not able to abide by the standards it voluntarily agreed to enter into under the Australian free trade agreement, why should we expect that they will behave any differently in the future?”

Speaking in Shanghai, Mr Albanese did not rule out China entering the CPTPP one day but warned of the difficult task of receiving unanimous consensus of all 11 members to allow any new entrant.

“What we’ve said is that any country must demonstrate that it can meet the high standards of the agreement, and that is the basis of all of that going forward,” Mr ­Albanese said.

“And any positions that are ­advanced tomorrow will be ­advanced tomorrow, but we haven’t had those discussions yet.”

Taiwan has also launched a bid to join the bloc, and Mr Albanese said all applications would be dealt with in “an appropriate way”.

Senator Paterson said it was his hope that Mr Albanese used his meeting with President Xi to canvas a range of issues, including the ongoing “unjustified sanctions” against the Australian economy.

“I think it’s important that the Prime Minister raises the full range of issues in the bilateral relationship with Xi Jinping, including the foreign interference and espionage in our democracy but also the ongoing detention of Australian citizen Dr Yang Hengjun,” he said.

Senator Paterson said China continued to “pose national security challenges” to Australia.

“I think they (China) certainly do pose national security challenges to Australia in terms of foreign interference and espionage, in terms of cyber attacks, in terms of intellectual property theft but also in terms of malign conduct that they’re engaging in the South China Sea,” he said.

Mr Albanese will meet with Mr Xi in Beijing on Monday night.

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