Australian and Chinese defence talks a sign AUKUS submarines have not hurt ties

Chinese and Australian defence officials have had their first meeting since 2019 in a sign the AUKUS subs plan hasn’t derailed efforts to improve relations.

The talks in Canberra follow a meeting between Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Chinese counterpart in Cambodia late last year.

Chinese and Australian defence officials have had a first meeting since 2019 in a sign the AUKUS nuclear-powered subs plan has not derailed efforts by both ­nations to improve relations.

The talks in Canberra were revealed by China rather than Australia, and follow a meeting between Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, in Cambodia late last year.

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe. Picture: AFP

The Chinese Defence Ministry said the 8th Sino-Australian Ministry of National Defence Working Meeting had been a productive one.

“Negotiations have further enhanced mutual understanding, which is conducive to the healthy and stable development of the relationship between the two militaries,” it said in a statement.

Australia’s Defence Department issued a later statement confirming the half-day talks between senior officials. “The dialogue was conducted in a professional atmosphere with both sides exchanging views on regional security issues,” it said.

The talks followed a series of incidents between Australian and Chinese militaries, including the use of high-powered lasers by the People’s Liberation Army to ­dazzle Australian pilots, and an aggressive challenge of an Australian surveillance aircraft last year by a Chinese fighter jet.

In the mid-air incident in May, a Chinese J-16 fighter flew dangerously close to an Australian P-8A Poseidon, firing flares and “chaff” countermeasures and prompting a furious protest by Canberra.

After his meeting with General Wei last year, Mr Marles said he was keen to reinstate the annual defence dialogue, which had not been held for more than three years. China axed the talks and piled economic sanctions on Australia after former foreign minister Marise Payne called for an international inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

The move prompted Beijing to put Australia into the deep freeze. That only began to thaw late last year when Anthony Albanese met President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Bali.

The defence officials meeting came as Mr Xi wound up a three-day visit to Russia, where he and Vladimir Putin vowed to deepen their strategic partnership.

China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, declined to attend a briefing on the AUKUS submarine plan last week by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, sending a more junior official in his place. The Chinese Foreign Ministry described the plan as a “path of error and danger”, accusing Australia, the US and UK of fuelling an arms race.