Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia is on the path to rebuilding a relationship with China as she visits the country for the first time since major fractures to high-level ties.
After meeting tonight with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Wong said the latest talks were productive in helping mend the relationship that has seen trade sanctions and political frictions in recent years.
“We’ve continued to put the view that we are able to grow our bilateral relationship and uphold our respective national interests if we navigate our differences wisely,” Wong told the media.
“That is the challenge of this generation.”
Wong did not give significant detail about what was discussed with Wang, but said she would continue to “set out our differences on positions” on issues including consular matters, human rights, and regional and international security.
She said “of course” she raised the cases of incarcerated Australians Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Hengjun with the hope that they could “be reunited with their families as soon as possible”.
Wong’s update to the media didn’t include any developments on issues raised by Australia but rather a general assessment of the relationship with China being slowly repaired.
Wong visit coincides with 50 year anniversary
Earlier, on arriving in Beijing, Wong thanked China for the invitation, which comes on the anniversary of 50 years of official diplomatic relations between the nations.
Wong said she looked forward to meetings “discussing many of the issues that are important to us”.
Wong’s visit is the first by an Australian foreign minister to China in four years and is raising hopes that Australia will make progress on ending China’s blocks on Australian commodity imports and freeing the two Australian citizens detained in China.
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Wong’s trip furthers a tentative thaw in relations between the two nations since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won the election in May, replacing Scott Morrison in the top role.
Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit last month in Bali, the first such formal meeting between the leaders of the two nations in six years.
Relations between Australia and China have been poor since China imposed trade barriers and refused high-level exchanges in response to Australia enacting rules targeting foreign interference in its domestic politics and calling for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Albanese has also said he remained committed to building a fleet of submarines powered by US nuclear technology despite the French president describing the plan as a “confrontation with China”.
As a treaty partner with the US, Australia is also viewed by China as part of a scheme to prevent it asserting diplomatic and military supremacy over the South China Sea and most of East Asia.
That has prompted many nations, including Australia, to seek a balance between their crucial economic ties with China and their long-standing security relations with the US.
Without mentioning Wong’s visit, China’s official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday said Xi had exchanged greetings on the half-century of ties with Albanese and Australian Governor-General David Hurley.
Cooperation between China and Australia has “achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries,” Xi was quoted as saying.
Healthy ties are “conducive to promoting peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world,” Xi said, adding that the sides should “adhere to mutual respect (and) win-win principles.”
Australia established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China in 1941, but those were severed following the Communist Party’s overthrow of the Nationalist government in 1949 and not restored until 1972.
