Australia’s treasurer will visit China this week in the latest sign that bilateral ties are mending

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers will become the first government minister from Australia in that key economic role to visit China in seven years. It’s the latest sign that strained bilateral relations are mending. Chalmers flies to Beijing on Thursday for a two-day visit. The last Australian treasurer to China was Scott Morrison in 2017. Morrison rose to become prime minister a year later. Bilateral relations further soured under his tenure until his conservative government was replaced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party after the 2022 general election. Chalmers said Wednesday that the main purpose of his visit is to co-chair the Australia-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on Thursday with the chair of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.