

Consider it the diplomatic equivalent of a Chinese banquet as the Morrison government seeks to improve relations with Beijing.

First came the appetiser with a meeting at the United Nations in September between Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who signalled his wish for the relationship to get back on track.

This week is followed by the entree, when Trade Minister Simon Birmingham becomes the first minister in months to travel to mainland China for President Xi Jinping's flagship import expo in Shanghai after an unofficial ban on visits.

But the main course will come in a week's time, when Scott Morrison heads to Singapore, then Papua New Guinea (via a one day stopover in Darwin) for back-to-back leaders' summits, where he will have the opportunity to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and then Xi at the East Asia Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit respectively.

Morrison laid down a marker on Thursday, where he acknowledged the strategic competition between the US and China would intensify. Morrison reaffirmed the primacy of a strong, regionally engaged America to Australia's national interest but emphasised it was crucial the US-China relationship did not become defined by confrontation.

During a series of briefings for Australian journalists with Chinese government and Communist Party officials, newspaper editors and think-tanks last week, the vibe from Beijing was cautious optimism that Morrison's rise to the prime ministership represented a much needed circuit breaker.

While noting that Malcolm Turnbull had taken steps to patch up the relationship in the dying weeks of his prime ministership, many officials reacted positively to a speech Morrison gave to a Chinese community group in Sydney where he praised the contribution of Chinese-Australians and treated the relationship with respect.

Officials were also well-informed about the Liberal Party's loss of the Wentworth byelection, and curious to know what minority government would mean and how it would influence Morrison's approach to decision making.

Even so, sore points remain. Fury over Australia's foreign interference laws, designed to curb Chinese influence in domestic politics, has dissipated to a sense of "pained bewilderment" that Australia could regard Chinese people with suspicion.

"The spy accusation really hurts. Really hurts. I don't know if you understand the other side's feeling," says Dr Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, a Beijing-based think tank affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chinese officials also insisted their foreign aid spending in the South Pacific was not an attempt to usurp Australian influence in the region, and their militarisation of the South China Sea was simply necessary for China's self-defence.

And Beijing is lobbying Canberra to reverse its ban on national security grounds against Huawei's participation in the roll out of the 5G network.

Australian media coverage also remains a target of Chinese hostility, with frequent gripes that journalists do not understand China. One propaganda official complained he had suspicions about the "truth" of facts he read in the media and objectivity had been sidelined by "ideology and cultural prejudice".

Ruan says the upcoming meeting between Xi and Morrison is timely but not a panacea in itself to improve Sino-Australian ties.

He says the differences between the countries need to be handled "smartly".

"Let me make this crystal clear: Australia and China do have some differences, it's pretty natural," he says.

"For the last four or five years, the disputes, the bad news always dominates our relationship. People think here Australia no longer values its relationship."

Ruan, a former diplomat in the US and UK, believes Australia needs to send a strong "political signal" it values the Chinese relationship and would like to see a working group of officials established to not only iron out differences but look for mutual opportunities.

"It needs to do the damage control and recalibrate this relationship moving forward," he says.

Head of Sun Yat-sen University's National Centre for Oceania Studies, Associate Professor Chang Sen Yu says the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump against China presents an opportunity for Australia to act as a mediator between the two sides.

"We hope that Australia can try to persuade the Americans to see some sense," he says through an interpreter.

Director of the university's Australian Studies Centre, Professor Chang Chenguang, adds that balancing the relationship between the US and China has always been a challenge for Canberra but Australia could be part of a united front with China and others to protect multilateralism and free trade.

Speaking from Australia, Lowy Institute China watcher Richard McGregor believes Beijing has realised it is in its interests to not leave Canberra in the diplomatic deep freeze.

McGregor says Morrison has been very careful in his public statements on China.

"It is clear that the Chinese are willing to re-engage with Australia on numerous fronts," he says.

"That's because Canberra's tone has become much more positive, under both Turnbull and Morrison, but also because Beijing's international outlook has become so uncertain and unstable.

"Beijing is facing not just a showdown with the US, but pushback on a range of fronts and on lots of issues around the world – in Germany, on the acquisition of technology, and in Malaysia on fears of debt-trap diplomacy, to name just two. They can't afford to be fighting on too many fronts."

McGregor says it is clear Morrison does not want to reignite recent battles but with a federal election due by May, China's leadership is looking long-term.

"A visit by Marise Payne to China and meeting between Morrison and Xi Jinping, at APEC or elsewhere, would be a sign of concrete re-engagement," he says.

"But I think Beijing, like business in Australia, is more focused on the possibility of a Labor government next year. They are watching Bill Shorten and Penny Wong as closely as they are Morrison and Payne."

The reporter travelled courtesy of the Chinese People's Institute for Foreign Affairs.

