The Prime Minister has met with Xi Jinping in
Beijing. He has hailed his trip as a diplomatic
thaw.

He says that his visit is about "taking forward"
Australia's relationship with China - which the
Chinese President has welcomed as a "joint effort,"
to improve ties.

The PM stated that he was committed to navigating
differences "wisely and with great respect."

In his opening remarks Xi told the PM the relationship
had now "embarked on the right path of improvement."
And he was "heartened" to see that a "healthy and
stable relationship" would see the common interests of
both nations.

The Prime Minister stressed that " where differences arise
it is important that we have communication."
"From communication comes understanding."

"I believe that we all benefit from the greater understanding
that comes from high level dialogue and people links."

Do we have much to gain from this renewed relationship
with China?

Your thoughts please.

The problem is, you can't believe a word Xi Jinping, or other Communist officials, say. From the time China signed up to the WTO and agreed to abide by the rules, they commenced breaking the rules. They are still breaking the rules, and getting away with it.

I don't know for certain if it's true - nor do I care, so badly has Albanese let Australia down - but the pundits are saying that Albanese came back with nothing: the things he spoke about were already in place before he left Australia.

As I say, I don't know how true this is; but, I wouldn't trust either Xi or Albanese as far as I could kick them.

Hi Foxy,

The extreme right, as typified by the previous posters comments are not going to trust Albanese, no matter what he does with our China relationship. A relationship which is far more important to Australia, than it is to China. The stupid attitude of the previous Noaltion government clearly demonstrated what a belligerent posture can achieve, absolutely nothing positive for the little guy, just the opposite, massive negative outcomes, particularly in the area of trade.

.

Dear Foxy,

.

You wrote :

« The Prime Minister stressed that " where differences arise it is important that we have communication. From communication comes understanding. I believe that we all benefit from the greater understanding that comes from high-level dialogue and people links." »
.

That sounds like good sense to me, Foxy – even if, as ttbn says, he “wouldn't trust either Xi or Albanese as far as [he] could kick them” (nice to hear that ttbn is still kicking, though, isn’t it ? ).

The American espionage writer, Tom Clancy, is reported to have said :

« It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly ».

I don’t know about Xi but judging by Albo’s paltry result on the Voice “truth-telling” referendum, I doubt that he is capable of lying convincingly either. To be good at one, According to Clancy, you must be good at the other – which doesn’t seem to be the case with Albo.

No truths and no lies. That might work.

Personally, I don’t think morality is the driving force of successful diplomacy, I see diplomacy more as an art. More along the lines of the ex-British PM Edward Heath’s conception of a diplomat as “a man who thinks twice before he says nothing”. Or, perhaps more subtly, what the American poet, Robert Frost, had in mind when he suggested that “a diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age”.

The fact is Albo and Xi have embarked on the bumpy road of peaceful diplomacy for the benefit of their respective countries. They took the initiative. No need for a kick-start from ttbn. In my view, whatever progress they make, no matter how small, will be a step in the right direction.

.

Our relationship with China in recent years came under strain.

However, the current government remains committed to a
mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with
China in which as the Prime Minister has stated it can
pursue shared interests while remaining consistent with
our national sovereign interests.

We established relations with China in 1972 and an
embassy in Beijing in 1973.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
our diplomatic network includes not only the embassy in
Beijing and consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu,
Shenyang, and Hong Kong. There are also 8 Austrade offices
across China helping Australian businesses to enter
and promote Australia as an investment, tourism, and
education destination.

The Department also tells us that most Australian state
governments are represented in China's leading commercial
centres and Australia and China share 100 sister-state
province and sister-city relationships.

China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner in
goods and services accounting for nearly one third
(32.2%) of our trade with the world.

There as we can see - our relationship is based on strong
economic links, trade complementaries and longstanding
community and cultural links.

It's a relationship that the current government sees as
being important to maintain - which as both Paul and
Banjo Paterson agree is a step in the right direction.

I totally agree.

Dear Paul and Banjo,

One of my favourite quotes about diplomacy
came from Oscar Wilde:

" To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomat -
the problem is entirely the same in both cases.
To know how much oil to mix with one's vinegar."