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Penny Wong will on Wednesday become the first Australian minister to visit China since Beijing put diplomatic relations into a deep freeze.
- Penny Wong will make the first visit to China by an Australian minister since 2019
- Diplomatic tensions have eased since Labor's election win, though trade punishments remain
- The shadow foreign minister says the test of the trip is if trade sanctions are lifted afterwards
The last time an Australian minister travelled to China was when then-trade minister Simon Birmingham visited in November 2019.
High-level lines of communication reopened between the government and the People's Republic of China after Labor's federal election win in May.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in November — the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since 2016.
Senator Wong met with her Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at the UN General Assembly in September.
She will travel to China at the invitation of the People's Republic of China to hold the sixth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Mr Wang, which was last held in 2018.
Her visit to China coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government establishing diplomatic ties with the country.
Senator Birmingham said the Coalition welcomed the news and wished Minister Wong well.
"We both have much to gain from supporting a stable, prosperous and open Indo-Pacific, in which the sovereignty of nations is respected and the international rules-based order upheld," he said in a statement.
"The test of these talks will be whether trade sanctions are lifted, progress is made for the release of detained Australians and improvements in security and cyber context that we face."
Australia has been lobbying China to release detained journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun, and drop its $20 billion worth of trade sanctions.
Senator Birmingham said Senator Wong's visit would also be judged on progress towards advancing regional security and respect for international law and securing "greater transparency" on human rights issues.
"Australia should also continue to appeal for China to use its influence on Russia to end the immoral and illegal invasion of Ukraine," he said.
In a joint statement, Mr Albanese and Senator Wong said trade between the nations had delivered "significant benefits".
"Australia seeks a stable relationship with China; we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest," Senator Wong and Mr Albanese said.
Notably, Trade Minister Don Farrell has not yet secured a meeting with his Chinese counterpart.