Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, thanks to the strategic leadership of the two countries, the obstacles faced in China-Australia relations have been overcome one by one. Meanwhile, outstanding issues are being resolved and impeding new China-Australia relations.
Wang Yi also said that since China-Australia relations have returned to the right track, the two countries should move forward without hesitation.
Meanwhile, PM Albanese stated that Australia was pleased to see that Australia-China relations had returned to the right direction in the last two years, with trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges strengthening again.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Australia shows the re-warming of bilateral relations between the two countries after experiencing rifts over the last 3 years. Problems between the two countries arose in 2018 after Australia excluded Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G internet network over security reasons. Tensions peaked in 2020 when the Australian government demanded an investigation into the origins of the Coronavirus in Wuhan. The Chinese government believes the Australian government's stance is politically motivated. As a result, China responded in the form of restrictions on a number of Australian export commodities and stopping coal imports.
Signs of improving relations between the two countries began to appear last year when in November 2023 Australian PM Anthony Albanese visited China.
Even though tensions between the two countries have subsided, both admit that points of difference still need to be resolved, including the case of writer Yang Hengjun. A Beijing court gave the Chinese-Australian writer a suspended death sentence after being found guilty of espionage. Apart from that, human rights issues, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, are also still points of dispute that need to be resolved by the two countries.
Even though there are still problems, the success of the two countries in stabilizing bilateral relations by putting aside several points of dispute that have yet to be resolved should be appreciated. This was of course achieved through dialogue efforts several months ago. PM Anthony Albanese has implemented a positive dialogue policy with China. Meanwhile, China is also proactively continuing contacts with Australia in multilateral forums.
Both countries showed the world that disputes or tensions can be resolved through dialogue, not by mutual show of force.