Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing will feature all the elements now missing in the relationship with Washington. It will be highly choreographed, extremely predictable and determinedly polite. Both sides will be able to talk up the many benefits of the meeting, publicly papering over the obvious differences.

That an Australian prime minister’s meeting with China’s Xi Jinping is the safer option – indeed, the only available option – demonstrates how Donald Trump has capsized politics as normal during his six months in office.