Phone call between Penny Wong and Wang Yi signals warming

Foreign Minister Penny Wong spoke with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call on Tuesday, ahead of a potential meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in New York. Picture: DFAT via NCA NewsWire

Foreign Minister Penny Wong spoke with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call on Tuesday, ahead of a potential meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping in coming days.

Her office said they covered a range of bilateral ­issues including trade and consular matters, suggesting they discussed detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun and Beijing’s bans on Australian products.

The conversation comes ahead of the Prime Minister’s “summit season” trip to Southeast Asia, for the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, the G20 leaders’ meeting in Bali, and APEC leaders’ talks in Bangkok.

Mr Albanese is set to have bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit or G20, and will potentially have his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Xi at one of the summits. He said two months ago he would “welcome” a sideline meeting with China’s President in Bali.

Mr Wang has become more powerful in the Chinese Communist Party since he and Mr Albanese met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September; he was promoted to the Polit­buro at the CCP’s national congress the following month.

Their conversation comes ahead of Senator Wong’s attendance on Sunday night at a dinner hosted by the National Foundation for ­Australia-China Relations to mark the upcoming 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations on December 21.

Australian officials had agonised over how the occasion would be marked, given the poor state of bilateral relations, but China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, told a recent conference that the anniversary was cause for celebration.

A CCP delegation from the Shanghai Institute of International Studies has visited Sydney and Canberra in recent days.

Mr Xiao said in September Australia would need to help create a “favourable atmosphere” for a meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Xi. “For the top leaders of two countries to meet, we have to make sure it is going to be a constructive one instead of a destructive one,” he said.

“What I would like to see is we have some favourable atmosphere to be created and … when there is really a wish and will from both sides, I would love to see a top-level meeting between our two countries.”