Foreign Minister Marise Payne to ‘defuse lingering suspicion’ over China-Australia relations

Marise Payne will meet China’s Foreign Minister today in a meeting which could help “mend broken fences” with the country.

Marise Payne will meet with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne is to meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi today in Beijing in a meeting which the China Daily says could help “mend broken fences” and “defuse lingering suspicion and anxiety” about the China-Australia relationship.

Ms Payne’s meeting will be the first time an Australian foreign minister has visited Beijing since Julie Bishop visited China in February 2016.

The two met on the sides of United Nations meeting in late August just after Ms Payne became foreign minister but the news this week that China was prepared to invite the minister for a visit to Beijing signalled what many see as a thawing of the relationship which has been under strain for some time.

In an editorial which lays out China’s approach to the meeting, the government owned newspaper The Daily hailed today’s meeting as a “positive move taken by the two sides to reset bilateral ties.

“With a new government taking office in Canberra in August, the two countries are now in a better position to mend broken fences and recalibrate their co-operation,” it said.

“Payne’s visit will help diffuse the lingering suspicion and anxiety that have stalled high level contacts.”

The editorial said there was “no denying the fact that relations between the two countries have remained strained since last year.”

“But, since August, members of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government have made positive remarks about China, showing a willingness to make a departure from the much criticised China policy adhered to by the previous administration.”

The Daily indicated that this week’s invitation for Ms Payne to visit China followed a positive speech by Prime Minister Morrison to the Asia Society last week where he said Australia’s economic relationship with China was ‘vitally important’.

“Against such a backdrop, the resumption of high level China-Australia contacts is only natural,” the Daily said.

The more positive tone from China and Payne’s visit to Beijing today could pave the way for a visit to China later in the year by Prime Minister Morrison.

Prime Minister Turnbull visited China for the G20 meeting in Hangzhou in 2016 and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Australia in March 2017.

The Daily said China believed that there was no “fundamental difference” between Australia and China but it said Australia needed to discard its Cold War mentality which viewed China as “an adversary rather than a cooperative partner.”

China is still unhappy with Australia’s move in August to block Chinese telecommunications giants, Huawei and ZTE, from supplying Australia’s next generation 5G network on the grounds that it would compromise the network’s security.

But The Daily indicated that China accepted this could still be part of a relationship with a more positive tone.

“There are undoubtedly differences between the two sides on a number of issues, most pertinently those that China regards as touching on its core interests,” the Daily said.

But it added that “by demonstrating that a fresh mindset and looking to the larger picture of China-Australia ties, the Morrison government can rebuild relations with China.”

Today’s meeting follows a major representation by Australian companies at China’s big import expo this week where Australia had its own country pavilion more than 150 Australian brands were represented including Australia Post, Coles, Woolworths, Blackmores, Suisse, as well as a host of smaller wine and food companies.

The editorial noted Australia’s substantial participation at China’s first import expo in Shanghai this week where more than 150 Australian brands participated was “just one example of how China’s opening up can provide new opportunities for Australia.”

It said that “most Australians would not deny that their country owes much to China for their country’s economic prosperity over the past years.”