Here’s Will Jackson with the details.
The relationship between Australia and China has been battered by a series of acrimonious disputes over the last two years. But since Work won the election in May both countries have taken tentative steps towards stabilizing the relationship.
Both the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Defense Minister Richard Marles have held a one-on-one meetings with their Chinese counterparts, ending a two-year high level diplomatic freeze between Canberra and beijing.
But there are still structural barriers to serious improvement.
Australia remains deeply concerned about a raft of issues from China’s treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang regionto the imprisonment of Australian journalist ChengLeirepression of rights and free speech in Hong Kong and Beijing’s moves to increase its influence in the Pacific.
And the recent taiwan crises have you seen China once again step up its verbal attacks on Australia, after the federal government raised concerns about Beijing’s military drills in the wake of the Nancy Pelosi visit to the island.
All of which should make for an interesting Q&A session at the end of Mr Xiao’s talk.
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