Canberra needs necessary nous to balance ties: China Daily editorial

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's four-day China visit has presented a golden opportunity for Beijing and Canberra to accelerate the defrosting of relations that has been underway since the Albanese government took office.

Judging by the outcomes of the China-Australia annual leaders' meeting, which were released on Tuesday, relations are warming up nicely. The two sides agreed to expand bilateral trade, continue political dialogue, deepen people-to-people exchanges and cooperate on various multilateral platforms.

Such a marked improvement in ties would not have been possible without both sides making dedicated efforts to reinvigorate their relations that had soured under the prejudiced policies pursued by Albanese's predecessor. By recognizing that cooperative relations are in the interests of both countries, Canberra and Beijing have been able to reach a rapprochement and swiftly resolve many of their trade disputes.

By beginning his China trip on Nov 4 and paying a visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Monday, Albanese offered a tip of the hat to former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, who was the first Australian leader to pay a visit to China. He arrived 50 years ago, after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1972.

As Chinese leaders often say, history is both a mirror and a source of strength and wisdom. Reviewing the two countries' relations over the past five decades shows that whenever China and Australia focus on reciprocal cooperation and seek to properly handle their differences, their bilateral ties flourish. Whenever paranoia and ideological confrontation come to the fore, bilateral ties always deviate from the right track.

An increasingly turbulent world and a divisive political landscape mean it is not easy for the two countries to navigate their relations through the formidable challenges and uncertainties, but that is nothing new and it has always been a test of statesmen's and stateswomen's mettle. For Albanese, the tightrope to be walked is between China and the United States.

With Australia being a close ally of the US, he has to not ruffle the feathers of Washington too much while seeking to improve ties with Beijing and not ire Beijing by being perceived as an enabler of the bloc confrontation Washington is trying to impose worldwide in its "competition" with China.

What has transpired so far this year suggests that the Australian and Chinese leaders have the necessary nous to keep Washington's hysterics as background noise.

If they continue to prove that is the case, the two countries' cooperation has bright prospects.