High-level dialogue between China and Australia can help consolidate improvement in relations: China Daily editorial

Since Australia's Labor government took office last year, Canberra has made a departure from its predecessor's anti-China stance and sought to mend fences with Beijing. Thanks to the efforts of both sides, bilateral ties have not only witnessed a thaw but seen a significant uptick.

The upcoming high-level dialogue between China and Australia is the first since 2020. It will provide a good opportunity for both sides to continue to build on the current upward momentum in bilateral ties. By deepening mutual understanding, the two sides can build a meaningful consensus on bringing bilateral cooperation to a higher and more stable terrain.

An Australian delegation with representatives from industrial sectors, government agencies, academia and media are heading to China for the highly anticipated dialogue with their Chinese counterparts, which is scheduled for Thursday.

By reviving the dialogue mechanism established in 2014, both Beijing and Canberra clearly want to send a message that they now want to consolidate the improvement in relations in such areas as the economy and trade ties and people-to-people exchanges.

With the thaw in relations, bilateral trade, which was frosty in 2020 and 2021, has seen signs of a turnaround. In April, China and Australia reached an agreement in their barley dispute, and Canberra subsequently suspended its World Trade Organization complaint against China.

In a media release on Saturday, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the upcoming dialogue "represents another step towards increasing bilateral engagement and stabilizing our relationship with China". That speaks volumes about Canberra's strong political will to join hands with the Chinese side and build on the current good momentum in bilateral relations.

China and Australia have no fundamental disputes. For years, China has remained Australia's largest trading partner, export market, source of imports, source of tourism revenue and source of international students. Hence, Canberra has everything to gain from working with Beijing to put bilateral ties back onto the right track.

Canberra should not let itself be swayed by Washington. If it views China objectively, it will recognize China's development presents an opportunity, not a threat, to Australia.

Canberra needs to know no matter how close it draws to Washington, it should not let the US dictate its relations with China. Developing China-Australia ties caters to the fundamental interests of both peoples. It is natural for the two countries to have differences in various fields, and efforts such as the upcoming dialogue is the right approach for the two countries to reduce misunderstandings, deepen mutual understanding and build more mutual trust.