China ready to meet Australia ‘halfway’, Xi’s envoy tells Penny Wong

China’s Foreign Minister says Beijing is ready to ‘properly resolve differences’ amid of a flurry of signals that Xi Jinping has ordered an adjustment in China’s handling of Australia.

Australia’s goal is to stabilise its troubled relationship with China, says Penny Wong. Picture: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade via NCA NewsWire

Xi Jinping’s top envoy has said China is ready to meet Australia “halfway” in the most promising change in Beijing’s diplomacy since its relationship with Canberra imploded in 2020.

The emphatically positive language — which for the first time in almost three years was delivered without any chiding of Australia — suggests it is increasingly likely that President Xi and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet before the end of the year.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Foreign Minister Penny Wong that Beijing was now ready to “properly resolve differences”, according to China’s official transcript of their New York meeting.

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia,” State Councillor Wang said.

“The Chinese side is willing to … properly resolve differences and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations,” Mr Wang said, adding that “the two sides should meet each other halfway”.

The official Chinese language transcript of the meeting released by State Councillor Wang’s department over the weekend was significantly more positive than that released after his first meeting with Senator Wong in July in Bali.

The official Chinese account of the recent New York meeting did not include a numbered list of actions Australia needed to take to repair the relationship, a welcome change for Canberra.

“In the Bali statement, Wang was obviously lecturing Australia on what to do,” said Han Yang, a former junior Chinese diplomat who now lives in Sydney.

“But the New York statement is more humble and conciliatory,” Mr Han told The Australian.

Beijing also used its propaganda machine over the weekend to send clear signals that Mr Xi has ordered an adjustment in China’s handling of Australia.

The party state’s combative Global Times said the meeting was “constructive”, an unusually positive note for the masthead.

It is increasingly likely President Xi Jinping and Anthony Albanese will meet before the end of the year.

Even one of Canberra’s most trenchant critics Chen Hong, an influential member of China’s Australian studies community and a professor at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, said the meeting was a “pleasant one”.

Most unusually, on the day of the Wang-Wong meeting the Xi family’s love of Australia was promoted by the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s most authoritative paper.

“Like his father Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping has also devoted a lot of energy to promoting exchanges and co-operation between Chinese and Australian cities, territories and states,” said the People’s Daily.

Beijing’s change of tone comes after months of careful diplomacy by the Albanese government.

Prime Minister Albanese has managed expectations about the scope of improvement in the relationship.

“What I want to see is that we will cooperate with China where we can, but we will stand up for Australian values where we must, and that is something China needs to come to terms with,” Mr Albanese said last week.

The Prime Minister has made it clear that as long as Beijing’s trade bans continue, Australia could not support China’s entry into the CPTPP trade pact.

After the New York meeting, Foreign Minister Wong said once again that Australia’s goal was a “stabilisation” of the troubled relationship — avoiding the word “reset”, which many in Canberra worry sets up unrealistic expectations about what is possible.

China’s statement on the meeting noted that Senator Wong had told her Chinese counterpart that Australia would take a “constructive” approach while continuing its “forthright communication” with Beijing.

“That’s Canberra’s way of saying: while Australia is happy to see some positive signals in the relationship, Australia will continue to talk about topics inconvenient to China’s ears,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a China specialist at the ANU.

Despite its change in tone, China has maintained the trade bans it has on Australian exports, which previously were worth more than $20 billion a year. Australians Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Hengjun both remain in prison in Beijing on vague charges.

Australian government officials believe any change from the Chinese on these issues would require a decision by Mr Xi personally.

The Chinese President and Australian Prime Minister are both scheduled to attend the G20 leaders’ meeting in November in Bali, where they could end the nearly three year break in leader-level meetings.