Make no mistake, had the Australian government not changed last year, Cheng Lei would still be languishing in her miserable detention cell, denied access to her children, relatives and friends.

From the outset, the prime minister and foreign minister made it clear they would change the tone of the relationship with China which, by May last year, had sunk further into acrimonious exchanges. There had been no official or only junior-level engagement for years, and Australia was relegated to diplomatic outlier, even among Australia’s “like-minded” partners.