Australia decries 'simplistic' views on China, eyes closer ties

Canberra moving to stabilise relationship with Beijing despite security anxieties

- Bhagyashree Garekar

Australia is cruising towards closer ties with China, despite growing tensions in the Sino-American relationship.

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu met Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles late on Saturday night on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, even as Beijing turned down Washington's request for a formal sit-down with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was also in Singapore for Asia's premier defence summit.

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times, Mr Marles said Australia was moving apace to "stabilise" its relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, even as it navigated security anxieties about its military build-up.

Australia's foreign and trade ministers have visited China in recent months, and a lapsed strategic defence dialogue between the two countries is also set to restart.

China has resumed nearly all of its Australian imports, including coal, cotton and lobsters, which were blocked after the previous government riled China with demands for an international inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 virus and blocked the sale of assets to Chinese companies on national security grounds.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to make an official visit to China, the first such visit since 2016. He briefly met President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 meeting in Bali last November, six months after being elected, in a moment described as a thaw in ties.