China-Australia relations reach ‘good enough’ baseline, ex-envoy says

After years of strain, China-Australia ties have reached a “good enough” baseline for Canberra, though still short of Beijing’s broader ambitions, according to a former top Australian diplomat.The relationship had taken a significant downturn since 2017, but was now on “a more realistic footing”, Graham Fletcher, a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, wrote in a report released on Sunday.Fletcher served as Australia’s ambassador to China from 2019 to 2023.The countries are currently reviewing their decade-long free-trade agreement, and Australia served as the guest country of honour at China’s International Supply Chain Promotion Expo held in Beijing in June.A fisherman retrieves a catch of lobsters off Australia’s Houtman Abrolhos Islands. Photo: Handout via XinhuaAlthough deep-seated security frictions remain over various regional issues, including the South China Sea, it represents a sharp turnaround from the relationship’s fracture in 2017, when Canberra introduced anti-foreign interference legislation and accused Beijing of political infiltration.