The visit by Australia’s top diplomat to China on Tuesday will be the first visit by an Australian foreign minister in four years, indicating further softening ties. Penny Wong will travel to Beijing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and meet with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi.
“Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in the national interest,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said announcing the visit.
An Australian foreign minister last visited Beijing on formal business in 2018. Since then, once-excellent relationships have deteriorated.
The two countries have clashed over political and moral problems, including China’s abroad influence operations, extensive human rights violations in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Tibet, and America’s role in the Asia-Pacific region.
China’s Communist officials were enraged by Australia’s decision to essentially ban state-sanctioned business Huawei from operating the country’s 5G network, as well as Canberra’s calls to look into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak.
In reaction, China quietly imposed penalties on a variety of Australian goods and froze high-level meetings. The icy relations were only broken when Albanese met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali last November.
However, economic sanctions remain in place, and while Australia has stated that it would want to see them repealed, experts are sceptical that relations will improve quickly or drastically.
Canberra has embarked on broad military changes to better deter foreign threats, including the acquisition and development of long-range nuclear-powered submarines and strike weapons capable of harming a far more powerful adversary if necessary.
Although rarely acknowledged officially, the transition has been driven almost exclusively by China’s fast military modernization and more assertive foreign policy under President Xi.
China is Australia’s most important commercial partner, and Australia continues to supply many of the ores, metals, and minerals that power China’s phenomenal economic growth.
