The first ministerial-level talks between Australia and China in almost three years have been praised as “a solid first step towards a recalibration” of the relationship between the two nations.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles' meeting with China's Minister of National Defence Wei Fenghe was the first ministerial-level diplomatic discussion between the two nations since 2019.Australia’s diplomatic deep freeze with China has ended after nearly three years, and experts say strong family and business ties between the two nations are key to improving relations.
China is “committed to conducting friendly exchanges and co-operation with the Australian side for mutual benefits and win-win results. This policy was and is not changing”, Mr Xiao said in a speech at the Australia-China Friendship Association's national conference in Western Australia.
“Plenty of countries have problems with China, but all of those countries, throughout their challenges, have managed to maintain ministerial-level dialogue. We haven't,” he said. Then COVID-19 hit, and Mr Morrison’s public call for an inquiry into the pandemic's origins in China meant relations between the two nations begin to deteriorate.“What changed was that in early 2020, even calling for a COVID inquiry, the Morrison government, including the prime minister himself, really touted an alignment between Canberra and Washington on that endeavour," Professor Laurenceson said.
Australia’s pandemic border closures saw this figure plunge by 99.7 per cent to just 3,350 visitors in the year ending September 2021.Australian Federation of Travel Agents CEO Dean Long said the resumption of diplomatic discussions was “a really important step forward for our industry”, and for local communities.
“If we can redevelop those diplomatic ties then we can start connecting those community ties, which has served the country really well,” he said.Chinese international students were also a major customer base for Australian universities prior to COVID-19.
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