The PM is heading to China and the relationship with Beijing has thawed. But will trade ever return to normal?

Anthony Albanese meets Xi Jinping in Indonesia in 2022. China dwarfs all other nations when it comes to Australia’s trade, accounting for almost a third. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Anthony Albanese’s upcoming China visit will be the first by an Australian prime minister since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.

Much of the media attention will be on irritants in the relationship, such as the four-year detention of the Australian writer Yang Hengjun and rising tensions in the South China Sea.