Phillip Coorey’s report “Xi tells Australia: We should cherish our relationship” (November 15) points to a welcome first step on the long road to what one hopes will be the restoration of mutually respectful and beneficial foreign and trade relations.

It is also a salient reminder that megaphone diplomacy, laced with populist rhetoric, may well provide a transient spike to a political ego or two, but it seriously undermines Australia’s national interest. Can we trust some of our ruling elite, with past lapses, to contain their egotistical exuberance in the future?