Australian Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday (December 21, 2022). The talks, the first high-level official meeting between the two countries since 2018, suggest that years of tension between the two countries may be bottoming out.

"If our two countries can manage our differences wisely, we can develop our bilateral relationship while safeguarding our respective national interests," Huang Yingxian said in opening remarks for the talks.

Topics for the talks include consular affairs, trade blockades, human rights, and the global rules that underpin security and prosperity, she added.

Huang Yingxian and his party stayed at the China State Guesthouse, and they received Beijing's high-level hospitality, and also obeyed Beijing's formalities and some symbolic arrangements.

Just before she and Wang Yi walked into the conference hall for face-to-face talks, the two foreign ministers exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The heads of state and government of the two countries also exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent messages to the Governor-General and Prime Minister of Australia respectively, saying that they should take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity, adhere to the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefit, and win-win results, and promote the sustainable development of China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.

But Huang Yingxian said before leaving on Tuesday that people should not expect too much from her to achieve immediate breakthroughs during the visit on key issues such as China's imposition of trade sanctions and the detention of two Chinese-Australian citizens. "Many of the difficult issues in the bilateral relationship will take time to resolve, but I do see this visit as a step forward," she said.

The previous government led by Australia's Liberal Party called on the international community to investigate the source of the new crown virus and responded to the United States' call to restrict Chinese network equipment giant Huawei from participating in Australia's 5G network construction. Beijing was strongly dissatisfied with this, and immediately imposed comprehensive trade sanctions and diplomatic boycotts on Australia, and arrested two Chinese-Australian citizens on espionage charges.

Albanese's Labor government has sought to improve relations with China since taking power in May. After meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia, Albanese called the 30-minute meeting with Xi "successful," "positive" and "constructive," but said he expected that. It is unrealistic for this meeting to immediately resolve the major differences between the two countries at multiple levels.

The two foreign ministers did not announce ahead of Wednesday's talks that they would issue a joint statement after the meeting.

Huang Yingxian said in a separate meeting with reporters after the talks that the two sides promised to continue high-level dialogue on issues such as trade, human rights and security.