Beijing is sending a top-level official to Australia this week for the first time since a series of rows sent relations plummeting between the Asian giant and one of its key suppliers of raw materials.
In a sign that tensions between the two countries are finally easing, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang _ considered a potential future president - is to arrive late Thursday in Sydney and be greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Mr. Li will also visit Australian near neighbours New Zealand and Papua New Guinea during the weeklong trip.
The visit follows months of angst over government restrictions on Chinese investment in Australian mining, the arrest of an Australian mining executive and Chinese protests over an Australian visit by Rebiya Kadeer, a U.S.-based ethnic Uighur Muslim exile from China’s west whom Beijing brands a terrorist.
Analyst Michael McKinley said on Thursday the visit shows a healing in bilateral relations since August when Beijing cancelled an Australian visit by Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei.
“The rule of thumb is that interests are permanent and spats aren’t,” said Mr. McKinley, an Australian National University expert on global relations.
The Global Times, a Beijing-based newspaper published by the Communist Party, said Sino-Australian relations “have gone through some ups and downs” this year.
“Many are still worrying over when China-Australia relations will bottom out, but the reality is that bilateral ties between the two countries have already started warming,” it said in a Thursday editorial.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said in August that He’s visit was a direct casualty of Australia allowing Kadeer to visit despite repeated protests from Beijing.
China accuses Kadeer of inciting riots between Uighurs and members of the dominant Han Chinese group in Xinjiang in July that killed at least 197 people and injured more than 1,700. She denies it.
While she was in Australia, four employees of the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd., including Australian citizen Stern Hu, were charged in China with infringing trade secrets and bribery in the multibillion-dollar iron ore trade.
In welcoming news of Li’s visit, Mr. Smith conceded on Monday that China and Australia “have been going through some tense times.”
“But we’re confident that we’re now effectively back to business as usual, and that’s a good thing,” Mr. Smith told reporters.
In an Xinhua interview on the embassy’s Web site, Mr. He said Mr. Li’s visit to the three countries, which ends on November 5, would “help promote friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation.”
Australia is China’s eighth largest trading partner with two-way trade worth $60 billion. China is Australia’s largest trading partner, buying large quantities of Australian iron ore and gas.
State-owned Chinese oil and mining companies are investing in Australia to secure access to resources and to share in the profits from future demand from China and other markets. But Australia is imposing restrictions on those investments.
Global Times lists among improvements in bilateral relations Australia’s decision last week to allow state-owned Yanzhou Coal to take over miner Felix Resources Ltd. for 3.5 billion Australian dollars ($3.1 billion) in what would be China’s biggest investment yet in the Australian minerals sector.
