Trade Minister Don Farrell has been given a surprise tour of Beijing's Forbidden City by a senior Chinese Commerce Ministry official, in an encouraging sign ahead of talks later on Friday with his counterpart, Wang Wentao.
Senator Farrell was hosted on the tour by the ministry's deputy director-general, Peng Wei.
The unexpected invitation came about 4 hours ahead of Senator Farrell's scheduled sit-down meeting with Mr Wang.
As he entered the Forbidden City, Senator Farrell said he was "very privileged to be invited here to this iconic site".
"I'd like to say just how much we appreciate the organisation by the Minister of Commerce, who I'll be meeting later this afternoon, for organising the special trip," he said.
The opulent 15th-century palace is a World Heritage site and a source of immense national pride.
The Forbidden City was the political and ritual centre of China for more than 500 years.
Although no longer an imperial precinct, it remains one of the most important cultural heritage sites and the most visited museum in China, attracting about 80,000 visitors a day.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott was given a tour of the landmark while in office in 2014, and then-prime minister Julia Gillard visited in 2011.
Restoration of ties to lead to leaders' visit
Australian officials said the tour was a "welcome development", after earlier playing down expectations for the afternoon's formal talks aimed at resolving Chinese trade bans on Australian products.
Han Yang, a former Chinese diplomat now living in Sydney, told the ABC it was a "very high-level welcome from Beijing".
"From my memory, former US president Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had been given this offer before," he said.
Professor Hans Hendrischke from the University of Sydney told the ABC that Mr Farrell's trip to China was "the first step".
"The visit is quite crucial because the vision will hopefully bring a breakthrough and an end to the trade sanctions that China imposed on a number of agricultural and other products," Professor Hendrischke told the ABC.
"We had diplomatic issues, but we also had COVID, which has reduced trade and interaction.
"All of that has to be put back on a proper basis and reinvigorated and that's where the visit is very important.
"And one other aspect, of course, is that the visit is in preparation for the prime minister's visit, which is planned for later in the year. And that's hopefully going to be a big breakthrough in relations as well."
Jiang Yun, the inaugural fellow for the Australian Institute of International Affairs and China Matters, said the visit was part of Canberra and Beijing's "re-engagement", which was "again mentioned in the open rather than hidden away".
"Farrell's visit to China comes after many bilateral visits," Ms Jiang told the ABC.
"Re-starting engagement in many different areas will culminate in a leader's visit."
Beijing's diplomatic tone on the political and trade tensions with Canberra has shifted from "meeting Australia halfway" to "China stands ready to work together with Australia", according to a spokesperson from China's Foreign Ministry.
Chinese foreign minister to visit Australia
After his tour of the Forbidden City, Senator Farrell confirmed China's foreign minister would visit Australia in July, and invited his ministerial counterpart to do the same.
At a bilateral meeting on trade disputes in Beijing on Friday afternoon, Senator Farrell said China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang's upcoming visit to Australia showed "a good pattern" of reciprocal visits was emerging.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited Beijing in December.
Senator Farrell told Mr Wang he should visit Adelaide, and stay at the Farrell family's winery in the Clare Valley.
"What about the commerce minister? When is he going to come to Australia?
"There's a good pattern there. The foreign minister is coming, so can I formally invite you to come to Australia and in particular come to Adelaide and South Australia."
Friday's meeting was set to discuss damaging trade sanctions imposed on Australian exports to China, as well as the stabilisation of relations between the two countries.
Mr Wang welcomed "positive progress" after years of escalating tensions.
"China and Australia are important countries in the Asia Pacific. We do not have fundamental conflicts of interest," he said.
"We need to see our differences and divergence in perspective, improve and maintain our bilateral economic relations.
"This is in our fundamental interests."
He said Australia was concerned about its products in Chinese markets, but Chinese producers wanted full and fair access to Australian consumers as well.
"Looking into the future, to maintain a good bilateral economic and trade relationship needs our joint efforts," he said.
Senator Farrell said the meeting gave the ministers "opportunity to take stock of our economic and trade relationship including progress we have made to resolving the remaining impediments to trade and to agree to consider the next steps".
"This will be very important from my point of view and the point of view of the Australian government and the Australian people," he said.
Diplomatic exchanges were frozen in 2020 as China put curbs on a dozen Australian exports after it was angered by an Australian call for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Farrell will hold a press conference in Beijing after the talks and depart China early on Saturday morning.
James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney, said the foreign minister visiting Australia was "big news".
"He'll be the highest-profile Chinese official to arrive since the bilateral thaw," Professor Laurenceson told Reuters.
"A reciprocal visit to Australia by Qin Gang for the 2023 Foreign and Strategic Dialogue is part of the restored normal course of bilateral diplomacy."
The dialogue is an annual formal meeting between the two nations, whose foreign ministers last met in March on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi.
At a later G20 summit in Bali, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, breaking a six-year freeze of talks between the countries' leaders.
China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods worth $287 billion in 2022, dominated by iron ore exports that China cannot easily replace.
China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said in an interview in China's state-owned Global Times newspaper on Friday that it was a crucial year to stabilise ties.
"At present, the operation of global industrial and supply chains is blocked, and trade and investment activities continue to slump," he said.
"China-Australia pragmatic cooperation is not only conducive to the stable economic development of the two countries, but also has special significance for China and Australia to cope with global economic challenges."
Additional reporting by Joyce Cheng and Bang Xiao.
ABC/Reuters
